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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27135958">May We Meet Again (A Season 7 Fix-it)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellarkegriffin_blake/pseuds/bellarkegriffin_blake'>bellarkegriffin_blake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Brainwashed Bellamy Blake, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Season 7 Fix it, because season 7 doesn't exist, his code was actually deleted, hopefully i have better tags as i write, people actually care about bellamy, sheidheda doesn't exist, the beginning is basically the same</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:22:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>43,614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27135958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellarkegriffin_blake/pseuds/bellarkegriffin_blake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Starting immediately where season 6 left off. Bellamy gets dragged into the anomaly, and everyone is working to try and find him. Clarke will move heaven and earth to get him back. Little do they all know the severity of the situation. Brainwashing, disciples, a Shepherd, planet hopping, and more. Will Clarke be able to find Bellamy? Will they be able to save the human race? Again?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Bellamy Blake/Echo, Clarke Griffin &amp; John Murphy, Clarke Griffin &amp; Raven Reyes, Emori/John Murphy (The 100), John Murphy &amp; Raven Reyes, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Episode 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is going to be a 16 chapter redo of the atrocity they called season 7. Some aspects are going to be generally the same while others are completely wiped away. I am trying to write it in a way the resembles an episode with different characters in different scenes. Hopefully, I weave a decent story with the multiple POVs. Also, the biggest backstory that I am keeping the same is with Octavia, Hope, and Diyoza on Skyring. That being said, The characters may reference their time there, but I don't find it worth it to rewrite an entire backstory that is going to be the same as it was in the TV episode. If someone think that I should write anyways, don't hesitate to leave a comment.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>GABRIEL’S CAMP: BELLAMY, ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE</h1>
<p>Bellamy stands in Gabriel’s tent, staring at his arms where his sister had occupied just seconds before dissipating into fine green mist. What happened? Where is she? Who is this other girl? He frantically runs outside, looking for any sign that she reappeared there. </p>
<p>	“Octavia!” he screams. “Octavia, where are you! OCTAVIA!” His eyes take in every tree and every bush in the area. She is nowhere to be seen. Bellamy collapses to his knees, rocks digging into his lower legs but not caring at all. Octavia is gone, and they never got to fix anything. Sure, the relationship had been on its way up, but they were nowhere near where they needed to be. His sobs tear through his chest, and he can feel his tears soaking his cheeks. </p>
<p>	“Bellamy?” a voice says from behind him. Preparing for a gentle hand on his shoulder to comfort him, he wipes the tears blocking his vision away. But, before she arrives at his side, a fast movement from across the clearing catches his attention. Something just disappeared behind that tree. Could it be her?</p>
<p>	Without thinking, or explaining, he runs towards the movement. With renewed energy, he feels his legs carrying him faster. “Bellamy!” Echo’s voice yells at him, but he ignores it. He is going to find his sister and take her to safety, tunnel vision focusing on that tree. So close. </p>
<p>	When Bellamy reaches the spot, his chest deflates. There is nothing there. No one. He is about to lean against the tree, fresh tears burning the corners of his eyes, but a brief pain erupts on his lower back and he falls to the ground. Echo’s voice rings in the background again. When he rolls onto his back to look at who just attacked him, there is still no one there. What the hell is happening? He falls unconscious before he can find out.</p>
<p>	Echo sees the whole thing go down. She watches her boyfriend’s sister disappear and watches him spiral into despair before running towards a trick of the light. She yells his name, but he doesn’t come back, so she decides to get some answers from the girl that stabbed Octavia. She is about to turn towards Gabriel’s tent, but it looks like Bellamy gets kicked down to the ground by… nobody? </p>
<p>	“Bellamy!” Echo begins to panic as Bellamy’s limp body gets dragged away by something, she still can’t see what. She runs to him, the breeze whipping her long hair back and out of her face. Just before she reaches him, so close she could extend her arm and grab is foot, another invisible force clotheslines her and knocks her on her ass.</p>
<p>	Rolling to her side and coughing, she watches as Bellamy gets further away. She ignores the pain and gets back to her feet to go after him again. Two steps forward and she is flipped backwards landing on her front. The wind is knocked out of her, making her gasp for air, and Bellamy disappears around another huge tree. </p>
<p>	Before Echo can recover, a figure runs past her. Echo tries to warn her about the attacks, but she can’t make the words come out before the girl is slammed to the ground, similar to the way Echo was. The green of the anomaly glows ominously from the direction Bellamy was taken, and seconds later, is gone. </p>
<p>	“What happened?” Gabriel asks from beside her. She didn’t even see or hear him arrive next to her. “Where is Bellamy? Did Hope just get tossed around by something invisible?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know…where Bellamy is…Hope is her name?” she breathes out, finally regaining her ability to speak. “Who is she?”</p>
<p>	“I will let her explain, but first we have to figure out what’s happening.” Gabriel runs towards the girl named Hope. Echo is wary, but she has also learned that Gabriel has instincts worth trusting, so she chases after the both of them. They get to Hope as she also struggles to breathe after her attack. </p>
<p>	“Who are you?” Echo asks the girl, Hope.</p>
<p>	“My name…is Hope…”</p>
<p>	“Yes, I know that,” Echo says, annoyed. “But who are you?”</p>
<p>	After taking one big gulp of air, Hope responds, “Diyoza. My name is Hope Diyoza, and I need to find Bellamy.”</p>
<p>	“But…how? She was still pregnant the last time we saw her.” Echo is bewildered. </p>
<p>	“We don’t have time for this! I <em>have</em> to get to Bellamy!” Hope yells as she attempts to step towards the anomaly again. </p>
<p>Echo grabs her arm and says, “Wait. It’s safe to say that whatever took him, took him into the anomaly. If we can open it back up, we can follow them. Gabriel, can you do it?”</p>
<p>	“Yeah, I guess,” he says while scratching his chin, “but we have no idea where it will take us. It could take us even farther from him, from everyone, and not even have a way back.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t care,” Echo and Hope say in unison. Echo continues, “I am not standing back and let those people, if they are people, do anything to him!”</p>
<p>	“If you don’t help me get to Bellamy, I will attempt to open it myself, and I don’t know anything about it. I could destroy this whole place,” Hope threatens and holds up a small paper. For once Echo is on the same page with her. Echo will not wait to get Bellamy, even if it means teaming up with the potential enemy. </p>
<p>	Gabriel sighs and tells the girls, “Fine, give me the code.”</p>
<p>	Hope hands over the bloody piece of paper and the three of them run back to the anomaly stone. He crinkles his nose at the code and circles the ancient device multiple times, trying to find the right symbols before starting something he can’t finish. She can’t stand the quiet, so Echo decides to question Hope. </p>
<p>	“So, if you can’t remember anything about where you came from, how do you know who Bellamy is? Or Octavia?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know,” Hope puts bluntly, watching Gabriel work. </p>
<p>	“Ok, so why should we trust you?” </p>
<p>	“I don’t know.”</p>
<p>	“How do we know you aren’t trying to hurt Bellamy, too?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know! All I know is I came through that blazing green hellfire, and I pulled that piece of paper from my arm. On one side had the code for this thing, and the other side had two words.”</p>
<p>	Echo sees Gabriel turn it over to read the other side, so she sidles next to him to read it herself. The two bold words read, “Trust Bellamy.” What the hell is that supposed to mean?</p>
<p>	“So now we are just supposed to believe you?” Echo interrogates.</p>
<p>	“Look,” Hope spits back at her. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I need Bellamy for some reason, and I am going to find out what that reason is. You can either help me or kill me on the spot because there is no way in hell you are stopping me.” The girls are nose to nose, trying to stare the other into submission.</p>
<p>	Gabriel, after pressing one little symbol after the other, tells them tiredly, “No one is killing anyone.” They both back off and look at him, his hand hovering over another symbol. “This is the last one. When I press this, the anomaly will open, and we have to get ready for what will be on the other side. Can you two handle that?”</p>
<p>	They nod and stare at the stone as he lightly taps it. Nothing happens right away, but then the green light glows from up the stairs. When they get up to the tent, Hope races out the door and follows the light. Echo chases after her, and Gabriel curses under his breath as he drops the stone code and follows the both of them. They will definitely kill each other if he isn’t there. </p>
<p>	When the three of them arrive at the anomaly, they stand there, suddenly not as ready to jump in as they were ten minutes ago. “Are you too still planning on running in with no plan at all?” Gabriel questions. </p>
<p>	Hope starts walking forward saying, “There’s no going back now,” and disappears into the light. Soon Echo follows, not saying anything, and lastly, Gabriel steps through into the unknown.</p>
<h1>SANCTUM: CLARKE, RAVEN, MURPHY</h1>
<p>Clarke walks around Sanctum, still cleaning up their mess. There are bodies everywhere, debris from fires, buildings in total ruin. If she had it her way, she would have been awake all night helping these people clean up. Instead, Madi cornered her and threatened that she would get Indra to force her into bed if she didn’t go. Indra, out of everyone, may have been the only one that cared enough that she slept, but she had decided no to have Madi work extra to make sure Clarke is alright. Also, she knows how much her daughter had been through with this whole ordeal. She knows how much Madi needed the rest.</p>
<p>	Clarke may have agreed to the rest, but that doesn’t mean it came easy. Whenever she closed her eyes, the nightmares started. Madi under Sheidheda’s influence, Clarke almost killing herself twice, Josephine taunting her, and worst of all, her mother’s face. Never had Clarke ever imagined floating her own mother. Abby’s face as she gets sucked out the door will forever haunt her memories. She knows it wasn’t her mother when she died, but it will always feel like it. So, the night went on, and Clarke barely got a wink of sleep. </p>
<p>	Which leads her here; wandering around Sanctum, looking for odd jobs to keep her mind busy. To keep her nightmares from following her into the daytime. She carries dead bodies, she sweeps out storefronts, she helps treat minor injuries that are over-running their doctor. Whatever she can do to distract herself, she will do it. </p>
<p>	The ignorance doesn’t last long, though. While Clarke is picking up pieces from a broken door, a middle-aged woman hobbles out of the doctor’s building. She has a bandage wrapped around her abdomen, which by the way she is walking, makes Clarke think she just had minor surgery done. But, despite the pain it looks this woman is in, she takes her little daughter running in her arms with no restraint. The girl cries into her mother’s shirt, and suddenly Clarke can’t breathe.</p>
<p>	Clarke runs in the opposite direction, tears blurring her vision, but still able to take the fastest route to their new home, the one Bellamy was bargaining for after Josephine took over her body. Just up the hill is a huge farmhouse that Clarke and company moved in to so they could get away from the disapproving eyes of the Sanctum population. It was a quick and easy move since nobody really had any possessions besides the little things from the ship. </p>
<p>	As she gets closer, she sees everyone out eating dinner in the back yard. They have been working all day, too, but not near as hard as Clarke had. So the picnic isn’t disturbed, she bursts through the front door and makes it up to her room before her sobs can’t be contained any more. Her back slides down her bedroom wall as the tears flow freely. </p>
<p>	How is she going to get through this if everything reminds her of her mother? Being Madi’s mother doesn’t affect her like this. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t want Madi to worry about her; she’s not sure. Clarke rocks back and forth with her head tucked to her knees like a child. Eventually, her sobs fade away and is replaced by long, deep breaths. Calm. </p>
<p>	After a quick look in the mirror to clean herself up, she heads downstairs to join the picnic. Well, she plans to stick around the edges, anyways. She still can’t tell how comfortable she is around everyone yet. Yes, they all seemed to warm up to her since she died and came back to life, but it’s before that happened that she has a problem with. She is supposed to just forgive them all for abandoning her? Clarke can understand how they would have been upset with the choices she made; it’s their right to be. But to completely cut her off and leave her alone is a different story, and she isn’t sure yet if she can shake it off right now. </p>
<p>	Clarke arrives outside on the big deck and sits on the stairs. She is close enough to hear what everyone is talking about, but far enough away that nobody engages in conversation with her. If she was hungry, she would probably think how good the food they are eating looks. Everyone looks tired, but being together lifts their spirits, she can tell. She watches how they all laugh together. Murphy and Emori cuddling in other’s arms like they have all the time in the world to be together. Raven right beside them. Indra and Gaia finally getting to have that mother daughter relationship. That tugs at her heartstrings once more, knowing she will never experience that again, but she controls it this time. There is Jackson, Miller, and Niylah, all making pleasant conversation. Even Jordan is getting acclimated to the group and hanging out with Madi. </p>
<p>	There is one thing bugging her though. Clarke looks in the direction of Gabriel’s camp in the woods. Bellamy, Octavia, Gabriel, and Echo left last night after everyone reunited in Sanctum. Clarke didn’t want him to go so soon. She wanted him to stay by her side so they could figure out what to do next. Together, as their mantra goes. Gabriel said it could take overnight, but it wouldn’t be likely. So, the fact that he isn’t eating here at this picnic is bothering her. Something is wrong, she can feel it.</p>
<p>	Suddenly, Madi appears at her side with an apple. “Eat this, Clarke.”</p>
<p>	“I’m fine. Go back to the picnic.”</p>
<p>	“Not until you eat this. Do you even remember the last time you had a meal? Or got a full night’s sleep? Everything is okay now. You can relax.” Madi forces the apple into her hands. If only her daughter knew the bad feeling she was having. </p>
<p>	Clarke reluctantly takes a bite, but it actually tastes incredible. She looks to Madi and tells her, “I am going for a walk in the woods.” </p>
<p>	“For what?” Madi asks, perplexed. </p>
<p>	“I like how it reminds me of home.” Clarke doesn’t explain the real reason because she isn’t going to make her worry any more than she has to. Madi squeezes her hand and rejoins the picnic by Jordan’s side. She finds the worry that has been etched into her daughter’s skin is nearly gone. She can finally be a kid.</p>
<p>	Clarke brings herself to her feet, and without looking at the group, makes her way towards Gabriel’s camp. The knee-high grass of the field bends in the slight breeze and gives off a pleasant aroma. Clean and outdoors. Hopefully, she barges in on them doing whatever code studying Gabriel wanted to do. At least that would mean they are there and okay. </p>
<p>	“Clarke!” someone’s voice yells from behind her, but she keeps walking. </p>
<p>	“Hey! Where are you going?” Another voice. She ignores that one, too. The voices keep trying to get her attention though, and they eventually get close enough to hear that it is Raven and Murphy following her. </p>
<p>	Clarke stops, but doesn’t turn around. “Didn’t Madi tell you? I’m going for a walk.” </p>
<p>	“Yeah,” Murphy says, “but we don’t believe you.”</p>
<p>	“Why do you guys even care?”</p>
<p>	Raven sounds confused when she asks, “What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“What do I mean…” Clarke says under her breath, shaking her head. Then louder as she spins towards them, “What do I <em>mean?</em> Neither of you could be bothered when I was <em>dead</em>, being controlled by a <em>psychopath.</em> Hell, one of you actively tried to get rid of me. So, tell me what I could <em>possibly</em> mean!”</p>
<p>	“That’s not fair, Clarke,” Raven mutters. “We didn’t know you were gone.”</p>
<p>	“But you SHOLD HAVE! The only reason Murphy knew was because Josephine told him. And when she said I was still alive in my own head, he still chose to try and kill me!”<br/>	“Clarke… I was just trying to survive; both me and Emori.”</p>
<p>“And you, Raven. After everything we had been through, you turned on me! Yes, I made bad decisions. And if you had actually listened to me instead of turning away from me every chance you got, you would understand how completely sorry I am that I hurt you and nearly killed others.” Tears burn in the back of her eyes, but she refuses to cry in front of the friends she thought she had. </p>
<p>	Raven doesn’t bother hiding her tears. “I’m so sorry, Clarke. It hurt so much when you betrayed us, and I couldn’t see past it. I wanted to make you hurt for it, but I was wrong. You have sacrificed so much for us all.”</p>
<p>	Clarke can’t think of anything to say to that right now, so she turns back around and continues on her journey. A few steps forward and Murphy appears in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. “Clarke, if you are going into that forest to try and hurt yourself again, I will take you and tie you down in your room.”</p>
<p>	Seconds later and Raven is by their sides. The yelling session becoming a much more personal conversation. “Wait, what does he mean by ‘again’?”</p>
<p>	Clarke is not ready to have this discussion. There is a bigger problem to take care of. Clarke tries to walk around them, but Murphy grabs her shoulders and Raven takes her hand. “I was affected by the eclipse. It doesn’t mean anything.”</p>
<p>	“We all know the toxin just amplifies our deepest beliefs,” Murphy explains in a soft voice. “So, you know that isn’t an excuse.”</p>
<p>	“I’m going to Gabriel’s camp,” says Clarke. Anything to get off this topic. Besides, whether or not the two of them think of her as family anymore, Bellamy and Echo are their family. She really has no right to hide her concerns about their whereabouts. “Something is wrong.”</p>
<p>	“I’m glad you feel it, too.” Murphy lets go of her shoulders and continues, “They should have been back by now.”</p>
<p>	Raven starts pacing back and forth. “Yeah, something definitely is not right. But why didn’t you just say something?”</p>
<p>	“I didn’t want to freak anyone out if I was wrong,” she says. “We need to get going so we get there and back before dark.”</p>
<p>	“Well let’s go,” and Raven plows ahead. </p>
<p>	“Murphy and I are the only ones that can get past the shield with our blood.”</p>
<p>	“No, you’re not. I have all codes memorized.” She smirks that usual Raven smirk. “This one is oddly the easiest since all you have to know is the first five numbers of the square root of pi.”</p>
<p>	Clarke and Murphy stare at her blankly.</p>
<p>	“17724. Let’s go.”</p>
<p>Twenty silent minutes later, they are standing at the edge of the camp. Clarke remembers waking up in that tent finally free from Josephine’s grasp. The one face she never gets tired of seeing hovering over her after breathing the life back into her. Finally being herself again just to be thrown back into the life of Josephine Lightbourne. At least it was her choice to take down the Primes. </p>
<p>Shaking herself out of her reverie, Clarke heads towards the tent, Raven and Murphy following. Everything looks the same except for the big, open hatch exposing stairs leading into a dark room. Clarke takes each step slowly, expecting something to jump out in front of her. What she finds is the huge stone with strange symbols on it.</p>
<p>“Oh my God,” Raven breathes. “I’ve only seen this in files buried deep into the computer system. Gabriel was the only one that ever accessed them.”</p>
<p>“Well, what does it do?” Murphy asks her while circling it. He is about to touch it, but Raven smacks his hand away.</p>
<p>“I’m not completely sure, I’d have to research more. That being said, I definitely would not touch it.”</p>
<p>Clarke doesn’t say anything, just makes her way back up to the tent. They are clearly not here. But were could they have gone? Clarke starts looking around outside closer. Nothing seems to be out of order. Could they be out further in the trees? But if the stone is here, why would they have?</p>
<p>“Clarke!” Murphy shouts from the tent. She runs back in to see what he found. In his hands is a piece of paper, bloody but legible. She takes it from him with the others looking over her shoulder. It’s a picture of what looks like the stone. Certain symbols are emphasized. </p>
<p>“It’s a code!” Raven says excitedly. </p>
<p>“But where did it come from?” Clarke turns the paper over curiously. There, on the back of this tiny paper are two words written in handwriting she doesn’t recognize and makes her stomach drop. </p>
<p>TRUST BELLAMY</p>
<p>It doesn't seem threatening, but it still doesn't sit right with Clarke. </p>
<p>	What the hell happened to him?</p>
<h1>BARDO: OCTAVIA</h1>
<p>“Octavia, just tell us what we want to know about Clarke, and you will be free to go.” </p>
<p>	The voice belongs to a man with dark hair, deep brown eyes, and startling white clothes. Well, everything is extremely bright and white. Octavia looks around as best she can with the restraints holding her down to this dentist chair of death. These people have her attached to some kind of memory retrieving machine. One that is way too complicated for her to even begin comprehending. </p>
<p>	“I’m not telling you anything.” Octavia’s voice is low and threatening. “What do you want with her anyway?” </p>
<p>	“We just need—”</p>
<p>	“Disciple Levitt,” another voice cuts the man, Levitt, off, making him turn away from her. Octavia can’t see who is speaking. “Not another word.”</p>
<p>	“But, sir, if we tell her what we need to see, she may show it to us.”</p>
<p>	“Or she will intentionally hide the information. Proceed with the MCap.”</p>
<p>	Levitt turns towards he again and tells her, “This will hurt much less if you comply.”</p>
<p>	“Then it’s a good thing I can tolerate pain.” The man gives her a sympathetic look, as if he actually cares about her, and brings a long, pointed part of the machine down to her forehead. All she knows next is the blinding pain she feels in her head as she defies the machine. </p>
<p>	So she screams.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Episode 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Echo, Gabriel, and Hope surrender to a new life in a new place, Octavia gets some answers but suffers a loss, and the Sanctum crew makes a plan to save their people.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one got away from me a little, oops! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1> SKYRING: ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE </h1>
<p>Echo, Gabriel, and Hope surface in what looks like an ocean, or at least a really big lake, but they don’t look around until they are out of the freezing cold water. Once they are on the sand, Hope recognizes where they are.</p>
<p>	“Oh my god… I’m home,” she says while looking up where a distinct band of white contrasts against the night sky. </p>
<p>	“And where is home exactly?” Echo asks. </p>
<p>	“I called it Skyring for obvious reasons. If we go that way,” she points inland, “we will find the cabin that I was born in. The one I lived in for my entire life until I was able to escape.”</p>
<p>	“Time in this place moves much faster than everywhere else,” Gabriel observes.</p>
<p>	“Octavia said you were smart. Yeah, while I was growing up here, it couldn’t have been an hour for you back in Sanctum.”</p>
<p>	“Well, how do we get out of here?” Echo is getting agitated. “And how did Octavia get back to Sanctum without you or Diyoza? Where is the stupid stone you used to get to Sanctum?”</p>
<p>	“I didn’t use a stone! It’s way under the water and unreachable!” Hope throws her hands up at Echo. “We aren’t going anywhere unless someone on the other side opens it!”</p>
<p>	“How do you know?!” Echo yells back, stepping closer to Hope.</p>
<p>	Gabriel tries to get between the fighting women. “Ok, ladies. Let’s calm down and try to figure this out.” But neither hear him, they just push him aside.</p>
<p>	“I know because Auntie O, you know, your boyfriend’s sister that you pushed off a cliff, tried for <em>six years</em> to get down to the stone. She tried for <em>six years</em> to get back to her <em>brother</em> and <em>Clarke</em> and <em>Madi</em> and the rest of her family.”</p>
<p>	“Well, that must have made you and your mother feel pretty awful; watching your <em>Auntie O</em> try so hard to get to a family that didn’t include <em>you.</em>”</p>
<p>	Hope’s fist connects with Echo’s face before Echo even knew she moved. “You have no idea what you are talking about! Octavia loves me! She loves my mom! We are a family!”</p>
<p>	“Clearly not one worth fighting six years for!” Echo pulls her arm back, fist ready, but Gabriel gets between them again. </p>
<p>	“STOP! We are not going to get anywhere with you two fighting all the time! Hope, lead us to where you lived, we need to make camp for the night and figure out what to do in the morning.”</p>
<p>	“Fine,” she says, and starts walking where she pointed earlier. The others follow her, but at a distance. </p>
<p>	“Do you think we can trust her?” Echo asks Gabriel.</p>
<p>	“I think it’s our only choice right now.”</p>
<p>Ten minutes later, the three of them stand in the living room of an old cabin. It’s hard to believe Hope, Diyoza, and Octavia lived here given how ancient it looks. But, then again, time moves incredibly fast here, so who knows how long it’s been since someone lived here last. The wood is splintered, the inside smells musty, and the little blankets inside are ratty and filled with holes. </p>
<p>	“There has to be a way out of here. We have to get to Bellamy!” Echo exclaims, clearly annoyed with the lack of escape routes. </p>
<p>	Hope, suddenly calm, tells her, “There is no way. And if you weren’t so blinded by your loyalty to Bellamy, you could calm down and realize we are not leaving until someone is put here to live out a sentence.”</p>
<p>	Echo is taken back by the comment, but she can’t admit it’s something she hasn’t felt in the back of her mind. She ignores it for now and says, “I’m sorry that I don’t want to sit around and wait indefinitely to get to the person I love!”</p>
<p>	“Oh, please. You need someone to follow and Bellamy is the perfect person for the job.”</p>
<p>	“You don’t know me or Bellamy.”</p>
<p>	Gabriel runs a hand down his face and mutters under his breath, “My life is about to become hell on earth. Well, whatever this place is.”</p>
<p>	Thankfully, that’s the last interaction of the night, and they all take separate corners of the cabin. Hope sleeps where here mom used to, Gabriel where hope did, and Echo lays in the living room. Sleep comes easy to all three. </p>
<p>	When Echo starts stirring in the morning, an unusual smell jolts her awake. She is on her feet in seconds, weapon drawn. She lowers it when she recognizes Hope standing in the kitchen.</p>
<p>	Without turning around, Hope says, “Breakfast. Eat up.”</p>
<p>	“I’m not hungry,” Echo spits.</p>
<p>	Gabriel joins them and says, “Fine, but I am,” and he sits down with a big plate of food. </p>
<p>	“I don’t care if you’re not hungry, Echo, but eat anyways. We may be here for a long time, so there is no point in fighting it.”</p>
<p>	Echo grunts and takes a plate of food. She has no idea what she is about to eat, but despite her initial feelings towards the other girl, she is beginning to trust her. She seems to know her way around this place. </p>
<p>	“We need to plant soon,” Hope tells them. “These aren’t going to last forever and it’s the right time for those crops. We also need to clean this place up. We aren’t going to live in this filth for however many years we are here.”</p>
<p>	“Years?” Echo is not staying here for years. </p>
<p>	“I told you, the only way we leave is if someone gets put here and we sneak through the anomaly. So, until then, we plant, we clean, we—”</p>
<p>“We train,” Echo finishes. </p>
<p>	Gabriel expresses his curiosity between bites. “What do you mean until someone is put here?”</p>
<p>	Hope explains, “When I was ten, after four years after Octavia had finally given up on getting to the stone and focused more on being my Auntie O, the anomaly showed up again. Multiple guys in black suits and weird helmets came out of it. They hid me and tried to keep them away from me. It worked, but they got taken into it instead.”</p>
<p>	“What’s your point?” Echo asks impatiently, still barely eating.</p>
<p>	“I was on my own for I don’t even know how long, but it couldn’t have been a month. Then the anomaly opened and only one man came through, his name was Dev. He didn’t have a weapon, but I had my pitchfork ready. I tried to attack him like Auntie O had trained me, but he disarmed me quickly. I ran back to the house and hid. The man minded his own business, grew his crops but not in my space, slept in the trees, and slowly I began to trust him. One day he got sick. I cared for him until he got better, but I noticed a strange mark on his arm. It looked like a tattoo, but it was counting down.”</p>
<p>	“Counting down? On his skin?” Gabriel’s face is one of awe. “That’s amazing. I wonder how they did it.”</p>
<p>	“Let her finish,” Echo says. </p>
<p>	“When I asked what it was, he told me it was the remaining time on his sentence. When the counter gets to 0, the bridge opens, and they will come and collect him. He explained that this place is where criminals go to live out their sentence. I told him my story and how I needed to find my mom and Octavia, and he told me he would help. He trained me in the combat he was trained in for ten years. He was my father figure for ten years. Then, when the anomaly opened, I snuck through with his suit on.”</p>
<p>	“So,” Gabriel starts, “The only way for the anomaly to open is wait for a mysterious criminal from god knows where to get dropped off through it. Which, since time is so much faster here, could be literal centuries in our time.”</p>
<p>	“Sounds about right,” Hope confirms. </p>
<p>	Echo suddenly stands up. “Doesn’t that bother you?! Doesn’t that enrage you knowing you can’t, and possibly will never, get to your family again?”</p>
<p>	“Of course it does! But my mom taught me a lot of things, and one of them is there’s no point in killing yourself over something you can’t change. We are here, we have each other, and the three of us may possibly grow old together. But it’s nothing we can change. All we can do is wait.”</p>
<p>	“I have to get to him. I have to save him.” Echo slowly sits down and rests her head in her hand. “I can’t let him get taken and do nothing about it.”</p>
<p>	“Think about it this way,” Hope says with a smirk. “You can take this time to actually live for yourself and not someone else. Have your own thoughts, maybe?”</p>
<p>	“Ok, I’ve had enough of this. Who are you to—”</p>
<p>	“Ladies, I hate to break up your fighting once again.”</p>
<p>“No, you don't,” Hope says.</p>
<p>	“Fine, I’m not, but you should both really shut up and look out the window.” Gabriel’s eyes never leave one spot, and the women follow his gaze. Standing about fifty feet away from the cabin is a man. He looks dirty and manic. Echo sees it as her opportunity and runs out the door. Gabriel sighs and watches her go towards him just to chase him away. Hope leaves soon after. He knows Hope will catch up because he has seen how fast that girl can run. He figures he should go after them both or who knows who will end up dead.</p>
<p>	He doesn’t get far, though, because the girls find him again, but they don’t have the guy with them. “What happened?” he asks them.</p>
<p>	“She chased him away and lost him,” Hope blames. </p>
<p>	“He is our best shot at getting out!”</p>
<p>	“Don’t you think I know that! We should have waited, let him start to trust us, just like Dev did with me! We can only hope that he tries to come back.” Hope turns away from them and back into the cabin. Neither hear from her the rest of the night.</p>
<p>	The three of them spend weeks planting, cleaning, gathering, watching, and training. Hope passed down Dev’s training, Echo contributed her Azgeda skills, and Gabriel kept the peace. His job was proved to be the hardest. After a month, the girls started getting along and respecting each other more.</p>
<p>	Three months into their new life, the strange man appears again. He hangs around the edges of camp, watching them. This time, though, nobody chases him or scares him off. Hope gathers some berries from their garden and puts them in a basket. Then, she takes the basket and walks in his direction. She walks as far as she thinks she can, so he doesn’t run, and places the basket on the ground. She leaves it there and joins Echo back in the training area. When she looks back, the basket is gone, and so is he.</p>
<p>	A week later, the man drops the basket back off, but with his own gift in it. Gabriel opens the door and receives it. “Well, I think he is starting to trust us now. He gave us some animal furs.”</p>
<p>	“Is it supposed to get cold soon?” Echo asks Hope.</p>
<p>	“Not very soon, but it will come. </p>
<p>	They go back to their lives again. Hope tells them how it took her ten years to get to the level Dev was, so it may take that long for them. Of course Echo disagrees, but that’s her being stubborn. Gabriel is never unimpressed by the food they eat. That’s really the thing he looks forward to the most nowadays. </p>
<p>	Finally, one night while they are eating at the table, a knock comes to the cabin door, and they all stand up. They know who it has to be, but they weren’t expecting him to come to the door. Hope answers it and the man comes right in.</p>
<p>	“Who are you,” Echo asks right away. </p>
<p>	Gabriel gives her a look and steps in front of her. “What she means is, hello. It’s nice to finally meet you.” He hears her scoff but doesn’t turn around. </p>
<p>“Thank you for the berries,” he says. His voice is gruff, like he hasn’t spoken in a long time. “My name is Orlando, and I think I can help you.”</p>
<p>	“How?” Leave it to Echo, after all these months, to jump right back into the escape mentality. </p>
<p>	All he does is show his forearm to them. On it, Hope recognizes the same countdown tattoo Dev had on his arm. “This,” he says. “I have five years left.”</p>
<p>	“Five years…” Echo collapses back into her chair. “What are we supposed to do for five years?”</p>
<p>	“The same thing we have been, I guess,” Hope tells them. “We eat, plant, train. We need to be able to fight when we get on the other side of the anomaly because they won’t just let us go.”</p>
<p>	“No, they won’t,” Orlando says. “To successfully find your people, you have one option. You need to become level twelve. You need to become disciples without becoming disciples. You need to get in, get them, and get out.”</p>
<p>	“We have been using the training Dev taught me,” Hope tells Orlando. </p>
<p>	“Dev was great, but he wasn’t a level twelve. You need me.”</p>
<p>	“Fine, then teach us. Train us.” </p>
<p>	He holds out his hand to her. “Deal. I will help you.”</p>
<p>	“Wait,” Gabriel interrupts. “A deal usually means there are two parts. What do you want?”</p>
<p>	“I just want to see you three succeed. I have watched you over the past couple months and the teamwork you have will move mountains. You can help a lot of people, and back on Bardo, I didn’t get to see that very often.”</p>
<p>	“Ok, then,” Hope says. “I guess we have a deal.”</p>
<p>	She shakes his hand, and they agree to meet for training first thing in the morning.</p><h1> BARDO: OCTAVIA </h1>
<p>Octavia lies exhausted on her uncomfortable cot in her stone-walled cell. There is nothing in here to even pretend to be interested in, so she stares at the ceiling. Her whole body aches from that thing she just went through; they called it an MCap? She’s not sure, but whatever it is was made her feel like she got run over by the Rover. </p>
<p>	What were they looking for? There was obviously something specific they needed to find. That guy, Levitt, at least seemed like he didn’t want to torture her. She starts thinking about Bellamy. He has to be worried sick about her. And Hope, her little Hope. Well, she isn’t so little anymore. Nobody in that camp knows who she is, so there is no telling what they could have done to her. Her friends and family don’t exactly have the best track record with strangers. But they wouldn’t hurt her, right?</p>
<p>After what seems like days, the door opens. Her blood starts pounding, anticipating being dragged into that room with the blinding white walls again. She tries to get up fast and get in a defensive position, but her head throbs even harder when she moves, so she sits there on her cot. A pair of hands grab her, and she fights them off, sight going blurry from the sudden movement. She will not get put in that chair again. Never.</p>
<p>“Hey, shhh. You’re alright.” The person gently lays her back down on her cot, his voice sounding familiar. “You’re okay.”</p>
<p>When she can see again, she looks at who is with her and sees Levitt staring down at her. Why is he here comforting her? Why isn’t he getting her to her feet to take her away? </p>
<p>“Here, I have some medication for the dizziness and body aches.” He holds out a couple pills and some water, but Octavia knows better.</p>
<p>“I’m not taking anything you give me,” she tells Levitt with a low voice, staring him down.</p>
<p>“Please, I promise it will help.”</p>
<p>“What, and I am supposed to trust you? You torture me and I am supposed to consume what you give me? I don’t think so.”</p>
<p>Levitt looks back over his shoulder towards the door before saying quietly, “If you don’t and someone comes to take you to MCap again, it’s going to hurt about ten times as much and is more likely to kill you.”</p>
<p>“What the hell do you guys want from me?”</p>
<p>“Take the pills and I will tell you.” </p>
<p>Octavia considers. So far Levitt has acted like he doesn’t want to hurt her. He questioned whatever leader was in the MCap with them, and by the way he was just looking cautiously at the door, he isn’t supposed to be here either. Slowly, she takes the pills out of his hand and the glass of water. She focuses as much of her vision on him as she can as the meds slide down her throat.</p>
<p>“Fine, I took them. Spill.” Her vision is already clearing, and she finds that she can sit up without feeling much pain. Levitt sits down next to her and they face each other. He is close, the darkness of his eye pulling her in. </p>
<p>“The Shepherd needs information from your memories. Specifically, he needs to know about Clarke Griffin.”</p>
<p>“Why Clarke? How does he even know who she is?”</p>
<p>“Do you remember the first time you were here? You ran through the Bridge, you call it the anomaly, and ended up on Penance-“</p>
<p>“Skyring,” Octavia corrects.</p>
<p>“Yes, Skyring,” Levitt chuckles. “Then, you and Charmaine Diyoza were brought here. You escaped back to Sanctum. But, before you escaped, we took you to MCap.”</p>
<p>“Then how did I not remember? If I was there for a second time, how did I not recognize it?”</p>
<p>“In MCap,” he explains, “we can do more than just look at memories; we can manipulate them. Last time you were here, we took the memory of you being in MCap and deleted it. The Shepherd didn’t want you to know anything about what happened in here.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“A precaution, I guess. Anyway, when you were here last, we looked through your memories. You were someone that just appeared on Pen… Skyring, and the Shepherd wanted to know who you were and how you got there. In your memories, he saw Clarke Griffin get a computer chip inserted into the nape of her neck. He believes she holds the secrets he needs.”</p>
<p>“What kinds of secrets?” Octavia is getting confused. What could the Flame have to do with these people? Who is the Shepherd? Apparently he doesn’t know the Flame is dead, but she won’t be the one to tell them that. How does all of this connect?</p>
<p>“I don’t know, I don’t get told everything. I just run MCap, so I only get the information needed at the time.”</p>
<p>“I’m not helping anyone here. Torture me all you want, but it’s not happening.” Octavia crosses her arms and turns forward so she isn’t facing at him anymore. That is, until his fingers gently rest on her forearm and gives it slight tug. She looks at him through her peripheral. “Why are you helping me? Why do you care?”</p>
<p>“The Shepherd is our savior, and he will make sure we transcend, but sometimes he does it in ways that I’m not always comfortable with. I especially don’t like watching pretty women get tortured.” Levitt’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink. “Anyone. I don’t like anyone getting tortured for their memories.”</p>
<p>At least someone here has decent morals. Octavia turns back to him and asks, “So what do you mean transcend? What is so important about it that he needs to do these unspeakable things?”</p>
<p>“Transcendence will give us our best life. One with no war, no fighting, no pain.” No pain? Octavia has heard that before. “It is our goal. It is what everyone on Bardo is living for, and the Shepherd will deliver it. He just needs whatever information Clarke possesses.”</p>
<p>“And you blindly follow him?”</p>
<p>Levitt smiles, “It’s my faith; what I believe.”</p>
<p>She is about to argue about what blind faith can do, but Levitt’s face go blank. It’s like he has voices in his head that he is trying to listen to now instead of her. After a few seconds, his eyes clear and looks at her again. Only then does she notice the earpiece he has in his other ear. </p>
<p>“We have to go, Octavia.”</p>
<p>“Where?”</p>
<p>“To the Bridge. I was just ordered to take you there.”</p>
<p>“Why?” Levitt takes her by the arm and gets her to her feet. She is back to normal as far as she can tell. </p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he tells her. “But we have to go.”</p>
<p>Octavia takes in each hallway, attempting to memorize her way out. If they are going to the anomaly, then this would be the most direct route. Levitt is paving her way to escape, and he doesn’t even realize. If there aren’t many guards there, she may be able to escape right now. Her heart rate increases at the thought of getting out again, and she prepares for the fight she about to have.</p>
<p>But all those thoughts dissipate when, standing in the anomaly stone room, is her brother. He is there with a knife to one Disciple’s throat and two more unconscious at his feet. “Bellamy?” </p>
<p>“Octavia, I found you.”</p>
<p>“Levitt, what is happening?” She asks him.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure,” he says. While holding onto her elbow, he turns to talk to his fellow disciples to try and get answers. </p>
<p>Octavia turns back to her brother. “What are you doing here Bellamy?”</p>
<p>“I had to get you back. I couldn’t let you disappear again, so I followed them into the anomaly.”</p>
<p>“Bell, you have no idea what you got yourself into.” Pulling Levitt back towards her, she says, “Let him go. Let him return to Sanctum safely and I will tell you anything you want. Even about Clarke. I’m still not sure what she could have that he needs, but I will let you in.”</p>
<p>“O, what are talking about? What about Clarke?”</p>
<p>“Please, Levitt. Send him back.”</p>
<p>Levitt is about to say something, but one of the Disciples stirs on the ground. With more speed than she expected, he is on his feet. Octavia hears one sentence before he pulls what looks like a grenade out of his pocket: “For all mankind.”</p>
<p>Then bright light blinds her, and a huge BOOM erupts against her eardrums. Levitt’s arms are suddenly around her, throwing her to the ground. His body shields her own, but it doesn’t look like there is any damage in their part of the room, or even to the stone. It’s like the grenade only hurt it’s intended targets.</p>
<p>	When Octavia looks over to make sure her brother is alright, her stomach drops. He isn’t standing there anymore. There is a mist of blood on the ground where he stood. “BELLAMY!” Octavia screams and tries to crawl out from under Levitt, but he doesn’t let her. “Bellamy, NO!”</p>
<p>	“Shh, let’s go,” Levitt tells her. </p>
<p>	“No! I can’t… he’s gone… he’s dead… BELLAMY!!!” Octavia’s sobs tear her chest apart, and she is finding it difficult to breathe. Her brother, her protector, is dead, and her world is falling apart.</p><h1> SANCTUM: CLARKE, RAVEN, MURPHY, EMORI </h1>
<p>“Open the anomaly,” Clarke commands. </p>
<p>	“Clarke, I don’t think—” Raven counters, but Clarke cuts her off. </p>
<p>	“Open it, Raven! We have to get to him! We have to save them!” They can’t just stand there while their people are gone! Clarke’s heart feels like it is going to beat out of her chest. What happened to them? Why would they have gone into the anomaly if Gabriel still doesn’t know what it does? The only explanation she can think of is that they were taken, and she is not going to wait to try and find them. </p>
<p>When she sees Raven not moving, Clarke snaps herself away from her and Murphy. It can’t be that hard to find the right symbols on the stone to open the anomaly. She gets to the bottom of the stairs and is about to touch the stone, arm outstretched, but Murphy’s hand closes around her elbow.</p>
<p>“Clarke, wait!” he exclaims. “You have no idea what it will do.”</p>
<p>“How are you guys okay with staying here when our friends, our <em>family,</em> are god knows where with god knows what happening to them?”</p>
<p>“We aren’t! We need a plan, and you know it.” Why does Murphy have to be the voice of reason? That’s usually Raven’s job. “And I’m not going anywhere without letting Emori know.”</p>
<p>“We have to go back and let our friends know what’s happened,” Raven tells her calmly. “We can’t just disappear.”</p>
<p>“If you guys have forgotten, I don’t have friends in Sanctum. If I leave now, I can scout and maybe even find them and bring them home without any of you getting hurt.”</p>
<p>“Please, Clarke,” Murphy says. “I know you don’t see it now, but we are all your friends and your family. Besides, what about Madi? Are you really going to leave without telling her, making her assume the worst?”</p>
<p>“No, I…” Clarke drops to her side and a tear slides down her cheek. “I won’t. But we have to make it quick; we can’t leave them out there forever.” </p>
<p>Without waiting for a response, Clarke runs up the stairs, out of the tent, and towards Sanctum. She doesn’t wait for her companions because while she still has the feeling that no one wants her around, there is a voice in the back of her head that is telling her to trust them; to let them off the hook. But why is she always the one to forgive? Why can’t the others realize that they are wrong for once? Why doesn’t she get to be mad? Clarke doesn’t wait for them because she doesn’t feel like acknowledging everything going on in her head. Her focus is finding Bellamy. </p>
<p>When she gets back to the house, she sees that the picnic has dispersed except for two people; Madi and Emori, and they both look like they have been waiting for the group’s return. Emori gets up when Clarke gets the two of them on the blanket. </p>
<p>“Clarke, where’s John and Raven?” she asks.</p>
<p>“They’re coming, but I couldn’t wait. We have to leave again.”</p>
<p>“Why, what’s wrong?” Madi asks, joining them. </p>
<p>Clarke doesn’t want to tell her, to worry her, but she has also learned from experience that lying about something this big will only make it worse. “Bellamy is gone. So is Echo, Gabriel, and Octavia. We searched the camp, but they weren’t there.”</p>
<p>“Where could they have gone?” Emori looks over at the woods. “They wouldn’t have just wandered off. Besides, Gabriel knows every inch of those trees so they couldn’t have gotten lost.” </p>
<p>“There’s more,” Clarke says. “We found a note on the ground in Gabriel’s tent. It had handwriting that I have never seen before. The only two words on it were ‘trust Bellamy’ on one side and the other side was what looked like a code for the anomaly stone.”</p>
<p>Emori is about to say something back to Clarke, but she looks over her shoulder instead. “John! Raven!” She runs to them and embraces them both before engaging in another conversation leaving Clarke standing there with her daughter. </p>
<p>“Let’s go upstairs and pack a bag. We don’t know what we are going to face when we go looking for them.” Madi grabs Clarke’s hand and starts taking her to the house.</p>
<p>“You aren’t going, Madi.”</p>
<p>“Please, Clarke?”</p>
<p>“Not happening. Like you said, we have no idea what’s out there and I’m not putting you in that danger.”</p>
<p>“I am strong enough. I can do it!”</p>
<p>Clarke kneels down in front of her daughter and takes her other hand. “I know you are. You are the strongest 12-year-old I have ever known.”</p>
<p>“Then why?”</p>
<p>“Because you are still a 12-year-old. You are going to go to school, make friends, maybe have a crush or two. You have had too much war and death for anyone your age. Now it’s time to be a child.”</p>
<p>Madi removes her hands from Clarke’s and wraps her arms around her neck. Clarke reciprocates by bringing her to her chest. Madi says into Clarke’s ear, “Promise me you will ask for help if you need it.”</p>
<p>“I promise.” Clarke kisses the crown of her head and stands back up. </p>
<p>She doesn’t realize that Murphy, Emori, and Raven are standing behind her until Murphy says, “Emori told us something that is happening in Sanctum.”</p>
<p>“Now what?” Clarke is tired of solving problems.</p>
<p>Emori takes a step forward and repeats what she had just told the others. “There are still people who believe in the Primes. Delilah’s mother came and told me they are starting to cause more trouble. They are trying to get everyone to believe again, and she is afraid they are going to turn violent if they aren’t dealt with.”</p>
<p>“Do they still believe you two are Primes?” Clarke asks.</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Do they still think I am Josephine? Do they know where we are keeping Russell?”</p>
<p>“No, they know Josephine is dead, and no one goes in the palace anymore. As far as we are aware, they don’t know Russell is being kept there.”</p>
<p>“We need to keep it that way. Muprhy, Emori, you have to stay here.”</p>
<p>“No way!” Murphy exclaims.  </p>
<p>“Watch the locals and make sure they are safe. Try to get the ones that believe in the Primes on our side.”</p>
<p>“How?” Emori asks. </p>
<p>“I don’t know, but there has to be a way. You are going to have to keep an eye on the other factions, too. Everyone is still at the edge of their seats. The grounders, Eligius crew, Sanctum people, they are all very different people and are bound to fight.”</p>
<p>“Hey, take a step back.” Murphy runs a hand through his hair. “You are not going alone to find the others!” </p>
<p>“She won’t be alone because I’m going with her,” Raven says matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>“Raven…” Clarke starts.</p>
<p>“No, I am going. You will need backup and my unwavering brilliance.” Clarke can be as mad as she wants at this girl, but sometimes she just makes Clarke smile.</p>
<p>“Fine,” Clarke concedes.</p>
<p>“Oh, we are also taking Niylah and Miller. They are fighters and you may be the Commander of Death, but we need more bodies.”</p>
<p>Clarke turns to Emori. “Are they inside?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Raven, go let them know what’s happening. Murphy and Emori, talk with Indra and try to come up with a plan to keep the peace here in Sanctum. We can’t let any more bad things happen to this place. Madi, go to school tomorrow. Keep an eye on the kids and ask questions once in a while. Sometimes kids know more than they think. But most of all, be the kid you are meant to be. I’m going to go change.”</p>
<p>When everyone walks away from her, Clarke sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. This was supposed to be the time to finally relax. To clean up their last mess and live their lives like nothing could ever go wrong again. But now Bellamy is missing, and she can barely think straight. Her best friend is gone, and there is no telling where he could be right now.</p>
<p>Clarke marches up to her bedroom and changes into her favorite black leather outfit. It’s comfortable, intimidating, and not going to lie, she looks incredible in it. Down in the kitchen, everyone is there waiting. Murphy and Emori are talking with Indra, Raven is leaning against the countertop, Madi is speaking with Gaia, who said she would keep an eye on her while Clarke is gone. Miller and Jackson are having a discussion, most likely Jackson asking his boyfriend to stay here with him, but knowing Miller, he can’t stay back and watch the fight. And then there is Niylah standing by the door looking ready to go.</p>
<p>When she gets in the middle of the group, she addresses them. “Are we all ready to do what we need to do? Nobody is being forced to do any of this; I am willing to go after them myself.”</p>
<p>“Clarke…” Murphy drawls with warning.</p>
<p>“But I appreciate all the help I can get. We are going to get our people back and keep Sanctum from collapsing in on itself.” With that, Clarke walks out the door followed by Raven, Niylah, and Miller, guns resting to their sides. </p>
<p>Despite her strongest urges, Clarke walks the entire way to the anomaly stone. Raven is by her side the whole time, and she has to admit it’s comforting. The way neither her nor Murphy would let her go alone warms her heart towards them a little. Clarke doesn’t talk, so Raven answers the few questions that Niylah or Miller has. Thirty minutes later, the four of them stand at the outskirts of the camp, but something is off. </p>
<p>Everything looks the same, but Clarke feels like someone has been here; or is still here, she can’t tell. Quietly, she turns to face her friends (yes, her friends), and whispers, “Niylah, Miller, go around the sides. Raven, cover the front. I’m going to check inside.” </p>
<p>Everyone moves silently, as silently as they can in the woods, and takes their positions. As Clarke gets closer to the entrance of the tent, she can hear voices. Clarke inches closer.</p>
<p>“She has to be around here somewhere,” one of the voices says.</p>
<p>“We need to get her to the Shepherd,” says another.</p>
<p>Clarke has no idea what they are talking about, and she wants to hear more, but they start talking meaningless small talk. Tired of it, she shouts, “Come outside slowly! I am armed, and if I see any weapons on you, I will shoot!”</p>
<p>The voices stop talking and three people in black gear walk out of the tent. She is glad she has people covering her. Once all the mysterious people are out, they remove their helmets. </p>
<p>“Clarke Griffin,” the one in front says. “Nice to meet you.”</p>
<p>“How do you know me?” She asks, skeptically. </p>
<p>“I have ways. I need you to come with us.”</p>
<p>“Why did you take my friends?”</p>
<p>“Come with me, and I will tell you everything.”</p>
<p>Naturally, Clarke considers it. She lowers her weapon slightly as she thinks. If she went with them, she could save Bellamy, and the others, and not put her friends in the trees at risk. She survived six years on a virtually new planet by herself, so she could probably handle wherever they would take her. </p>
<p>“What do you need from me?” She asks the strange man.</p>
<p>He holds his arm out in a follow-me gesture and says, “Come. Find out.”</p>
<p>She lowers her gun all the way and takes a step forward. She knows this is stupid, and most likely a trap, but the pull to find Bellamy is too overwhelming. She is about go with him when shots ring out and the men in black fall to the ground. All of them, dead at her feet. </p>
<p>Raven comes out from behind the tree she was positioned behind, clearly angry, and yells, “What the hell was that, Clarke?”</p>
<p>“I needed to get that information! He could have told me where Bellamy is!”</p>
<p>“Or he could have killed you as soon as you were out of our range!”</p>
<p>“Well, now what do we do?” Clarke asks the group. She watches Raven walk over and pick up one of the helmets. </p>
<p>“Woah,” she says as she puts it on. “This has so much tech in it. You are lucky they took these off because they could have unleashed something nasty on us.”</p>
<p>“Good to know,” Miller says. </p>
<p>After a moment of silent tinkering, Raven speaks up again, “I think they can control the anomaly with these!”</p>
<p>“What do you mean control it?” Niylah asks. </p>
<p>Clarke walks up to her and picks up another helmet. Do we all need to wear them, or can you control it with just the one?”</p>
<p>“It means there are six different places this thing can take us. The anomaly is freaking wormhole! This is beyond awesome.” Then after a pause, “And it looks like I can control it wearing the full suit, but I think you three need to wear at least the helmets. These files mention things having to do with memory loss without the helmet and that’s one problem we don’t need to add to the pile.”</p>
<p>“Perfect. Let’s go,” Clarke tells them all, handing Miller and Niylah their helmets.</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” Raven questions.</p>
<p>“We don’t have a choice. They could be in trouble.”</p>
<p>Raven looks through her helmet and all the files and settings she can. “Ok, it looks like the place of origin for these suits is a place called Bardo.”</p>
<p>They walk down to the stone and prepare themselves while Clarke says, “Well, we have friends to save.”</p>
<p>Raven opens the anomaly, and they all walk through.</p>
<p>But, when the bright green of the anomaly is gone, and there is nobody around to witness, a fourth man in the black gear comes from his hiding place in the tent and heads towards Sanctum.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I love reading your comments and feedback!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Episode 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Everyone finds their way to Bardo in search of each other while Murphy and Emori scratch the surface on what could be a very big problem in Sanctum.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As much as I like time-dilating related movies, I recognize that I'm not very good at writing it. So, the time stuff with Skyring and the other planets isn't a key factor, but I know it isn't very consistent. Just a warning.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1> ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE </h1>
<p>Orlando stands outside the cabin just as the sun rises over the horizon. He is about to bang on the door to wake them up, but the trio eventually walks out. Hope hands him a plate of food as they all yawn and stretch. “Good morning, Orlando,” she greets. </p>
<p>	“I thought you guys would never wake up.”</p>
<p>	“Living a life with no imminent threat has spoiled us, I think,” Gabriel says.</p>
<p>	“Well, get out of that habit. If you are going to be a level twelve like me, we are going to be working hard for the next five years.”</p>
<p>	Echo asks, “If we have Dev’s level seven training under our belt, doesn’t that mean we have over half of it done?”</p>
<p>	“Disciple training is more than just physical training; more than fighting skill,” Orlando explains. “It’s mental. You have to know our customs, our beliefs, how we deal with certain situations, how we address our superiors, and most of all, you have to be able to obey commands that you three probably won’t agree with. There is no room for error because those Disciples will have the same exact training and will be able to sniff you out the moment you do something wrong. So, to answer your question, Dev’s training is good, but there is so much more for you to learn.”</p>
<p>	“I guess we better get started then,” says Echo. </p>
<p>	And they did. For five years they fought outside in their circle, had lessons inside the cabin when the weather was bad, and learned the Disciple’s ways. There was plenty of frustration throughout the years, a mountain of disagreement, but there was also the feeling of excitement that floods through their systems when they get a new skill mastered. Orlando had to remind them on multiple occasions that they aren’t going to be real Disciples because he knows how easy it can be to get lost in the in the idea of transcendence and living their best lives. 	</p>
<p>	The three of them got close. They knew what each was going to do before they did it, and as the years went on, the personal fighting between the girls decreased significantly. Gabriel was happy for that the most because it made job as peacekeeper much easier and eventually not required anymore. Sometimes they would even team up against him, and he automatically knew he was going to lose. Despite how they started, Echo and Hope depend on each other. They make each other stronger.</p>
<p>	By the countdown on Orlando’s arm, they have one day left. Gabriel, Echo, and Hope have learned everything they possibly could to become level twelve disciples without actually becoming them, so they decide to celebrate. And by celebrate, they mean sit around and do absolutely nothing. They last time they got to do this was about… five years ago. </p>
<p>	The four of them are about to eat their last dinner in the cabin. Hope is making a feast, with Echo’s help, while the guys lay around talking strategy. They clearly don’t know how to relax. They have all gone over their plan hundreds of times. </p>
<p>	“There is usually about five Disciples that retrieve a prisoner off this planet,” Orlando explains.</p>
<p>	“Why so many?” Gabriel asks. </p>
<p>“Because they never know how hostile the prisoner is. This place doesn’t always make people mentally stable like my superiors believe it should. Look at me, for example. My sentence was eight years. That means I was here for three years before you all arrived. You saw me, I was basically feral.”</p>
<p>	“Then what’s the point of sending them here anyways if people just go crazy?”</p>
<p>	“Because the Shepherd believes that isolation in this beautiful place makes criminals calm down and think about what they have done. Sometimes it works and they get reintegrated into society with restrictions. In other cases, the isolation drives them mad. I don’t know what happens officially when they are getting retrieved, but I can only assume they get killed.”</p>
<p>	“So, we make them come to the cabin to get you. Then, we take them down for their suits and leave them tied up in here. That way all of us can get to Bardo to save our friends.”</p>
<p>	“Yes, Gabriel,” Hope says from the little kitchen. “That is the plan we came up with last week.”</p>
<p>	“He doesn’t know how to relax. He’s not like us,” Echo smiles and playfully nudges Hope’s shoulder. She turns to Gabriel. “We all know what we have to do tomorrow. Now, it’s time to eat.”</p>
<p>	Everyone sits around the table and silently eats their dinner. They can joke about how ready they are, but the fact that tomorrow is the day they go back to the fighting and the war starts taking a toll on them. When everyone is done, Hope gets up and clears everyone’s plates. </p>
<p>	Echo starts saying, “I think I’m going to bed. See you in the—”</p>
<p>	A large <em>snip</em> cuts her off, and not just her sentence. Echo’s hair doesn’t lie against her back anymore. It tickles the nape of her neck, just above her shoulders. Her eyes go wide as she runs her hand through much shorter hair. Echo turns around to find Hope with an evil grin while holding scissors in one hand and the rest of Echo’s hair in the other.</p>
<p>	“What the hell, Hope!” Echo shouts. Orlando and Gabriel try very hard to hide their smiles but fail. She gets up and chases Hope into the living room. “Why did you do that?”</p>
<p>	“These people fight dirty; do you really want them grabbing a fistful of your pretty brown hair?” Hope shakes the locks in Echo’s face while laughing. </p>
<p>	With level twelve speed, Echo grabs the other girl’s wrist, takes the scissors, twists her arm behind her, and kicks her knees out from under her. Next thing Hope knows, she is face down on the ground with her arms trapped to her sides as Echo sits on her back. Another <em>snip</em>, and hair floats down in front of Hope’s face. </p>
<p>	“How do you like that?” Echo taunts.</p>
<p>	“I could have done it better myself,” Hope says. She bucks to her left, knocking Echo off and onto her back. Hope doesn’t waste time and traps Echo’s hands above her head. Gaining control of the scissors once again, she takes another chunk out of Echo’s hair. They are both laughing at each other as they wrestle around on the ground, their hair looking worse and worse with each attack. </p>
<p>	Eventually, Gabriel removes the scissors from one of the girl’s hands. “I’m glad you two are having fun, but we really can’t afford one of you getting stabbed while viciously cutting each other’s hair. I’m going to bed.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” Echo says while getting to her feet. “Hope, get in the chair over there. You look awful.”</p>
<p>	“I look better than you.”</p>
<p>	“Not possible.” Echo extends her hand and pulls Hope to her feet. “Now, sit.” The two of them fix each other’s mess. Neither turns out perfect, but the pixie cuts are good enough that they aren’t the risk their long hair was.</p>
<p>	When Gabriel gets up in the morning, he finds Echo and Hope already up and ready. After doing a double take, he notices their new haircuts. “Nice work, you two. That was probably much easier once you stopped sitting on each other to do it.”</p>
<p>	“Yup,” they say simultaneously. </p>
<p>	“Well, let’s do this. Orlando should be here any time.”</p>
<p>	They only have to wait a couple minutes before he strolls through their door. They had offered a corner of the cabin to him, but he never took it. Something about how relaxing it is to sleep under the stars. Orlando takes one look at the girls and says, “Nice hair.”</p>
<p>	“How much time do we have?” Echo asks.</p>
<p>	Orlando glances at his arm. “Ten minutes, so you three need to get into position. The only warning we will get that they are here is the sound of the bridge.”</p>
<p>	Echo, Gabriel, and Hope take their places around the camp. Echo goes around the back of the cabin, Hope behind some of their thick crops, and Gabriel inside.  They are finally going to find Bellamy. They are going to succeed, and they are going to get everyone back. Nothing makes a sound, not even Orlando inside. They all wait, and after what must have been ten minutes exactly, the sound of the anomaly reaches the cabin. </p>
<p>Not long after, crunching leaves makes Echo peek around the corner. A line of men in black suits walk towards them, guns at their sides. There is a problem, though. As far as Echo can see, there are only three disciples coming from the anomaly. There was supposed to be at least four. </p>
<p>	“Orlando! Your sentence is complete!” the man in the middle shouts. When Orlando doesn’t come out, the man shouts again, “Orlando! Come out with your hands raised!”</p>
<p>	Echo watches as the three silently communicate; the one in the middle must be the leader. He directs the other two in different directions before entering the cabin himself. The other two branch off, one heading to Hope and the other to Echo. Hope attacks her disciple first, the sound of their struggle drawing Echo’s disciple’s attention. Before he can get away to help his friend, she grabs his arm from behind with one hand and knocks his gun away with the other. </p>
<p>Before he can yell for help, Echo takes his gun and points it at his head. “Walk,” she commands. He does what he is told, and she steers him into the cabin where everyone else is waiting for them. The other two disciples are tied to chairs, their suits discarded on the ground. “Take off the suit,” Echo tells her disciple. <br/>“No.”</p>
<p>“She is not above killing you for that suit,” Hope interjects. Echo gives her a shut-up look. Normally, all three of these men would have been dead before they reached the cabin, but that’s not what Bellamy would have wanted. If she is going to get back to him, she is going to do it a non-lethal way.</p>
<p>“Then I guess you are going to have to kill me.”</p>
<p>“Or I could do this.” Echo quickly removes his helmet and slams the butt of the gun into his temple. He drops to the ground, but he isn’t dead. She knows how hard to hit someone like that to kill them. Then she strips the suit off and drags him to the chair to tie him up. </p>
<p>“What now?” Gabriel asks. “There are only three suits.”</p>
<p>“Surely you are smart enough to figure this out,” Orlando says. “I will stay behind.”</p>
<p>“No, you can’t just stay here! Who knows how long it will be before you can get out!”</p>
<p>“I will be alright.”</p>
<p>“We will come back for you, Orlando,” Echo tells him with a gentle hand on his arm. “We couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for—”</p>
<p>Three gunshots cut her off. Gabriel, Echo, and Orlando all look at Hope and then to the three disciples. Each man has a hole between their eyes. “Hope! What the hell!” Echo shouts. </p>
<p>“They took my mom from me; my Auntie O. They deserved it.”</p>
<p>Echo walks over to her and places her hands on either side of her head, forcing Hope to look into her eyes. “We have no idea what happened! You were ten when they were taken, and we know Octavia survived. Diyoza could still be alive, too!”</p>
<p>“You don’t know that!” Tears stream down Hope’s face.</p>
<p>“Neither do you!”</p>
<p>“You three have to get going, the bridge only stays open for a certain amount of time,” Orlando says while looking at the three bodies he is going to have to bury. Echo, Hope, and Gabriel quickly don the disciple uniforms. “Go, save your family.”</p>
<p>Hope storms out of the cabin, Echo pecks Orlando’s cheek before following the other girl, and Gabriel gives one last, “Thank you,” before leaving, too. He catches up to the girls as they all reach the anomaly. “Ready?”</p>
<p>“Let’s go get Bellamy,” Echo says.</p>
<p>“And my mom and Octavia.”</p>
<p>“All right, let’s do this.” Gabriel snaps his helmet on, and the girls do the same. The three of them walk into the anomaly once again, leaving Skyring in their dust.</p>
<p>At least they didn’t arrive in a lake this time. The three of them stand in this insanely bright white room. Behind them, the anomaly closes and the only thing in there besides them is the anomaly stone. </p>
<p>Hope is about to take off her helmet, but Gabriel stops her. “We can’t let anyone see our faces. They will know we don’t belong.” </p>
<p>Gabriel is about to say something else, but the door opening makes them turn towards it. Three more disciples come into the room, and he thinks that they have already been made. </p>
<p>“Where’s the prisoner?” one of them asks. </p>
<p>Gabriel answers since all three of the disciples on Skyring were men, “Dead, killed himself. Probably went crazy, you know how it goes sometimes.”</p>
<p>The real disciples chuckle. “Oh well,” the same one says, “One less crazy person here, I guess. Anyways, time for a shift change, and since you don’t have a prisoner, you can take post here.”</p>
<p>“Sounds fair,” Gabriel says. They all walk out, and once the stone room doors shut, the disciples leave him, Echo, and Hope there to guard it.</p>
<p>“They guard this place with three people?” Echo asks. “Seems like a lot.”</p>
<p>“It does,” Hope says, “So, I’m going to go and look for my family.”</p>
<p>“The hell you are!” Echo whisper shouts. “We need to act like we belong for longer than two minutes before we go poking around!”</p>
<p>“Why? I know everything I need to know about this place! No one will suspect a thing if I keep my helmet on!”</p>
<p>“You may know everything you need, but once you find Diyoza and Octavia, I don’t believe you will act like a disciple anymore. We need to keep our cover.”</p>
<p>“Echo is right,” Gabriel agrees. “We have to do this quickly, but we can’t fail either, so it has to be done right. We can’t rush into anything.”</p>
<p>After an hour of sitting in that hallway, bored of not speaking to each other, the sound of the anomaly opening breaks them from their reveries. They stand outside the door and fight to peek through the small window in the door. </p>
<p>Echo watches as four people come through the green mist. The odd thing, though, is that only one is wearing the full suit, and the other three are just wearing helmets. She watches them as they all look around, taking it all in. Then, they all take off their helmets, and Echo gasps. </p>
<p>“Oh my god, that’s…” Echo reaches for the handle, but Gabriel stops her the same way he stopped Hope earlier. He looks through the window, and she can see the wheels turning in his head, coming up with a plan.</p>
<p>“We need to take them to a cell, Orlando gave us an idea where they are,” he says. “That way we know they are here, but no one else will so they can’t get questioned or hurt.”</p>
<p>The girls agree, and they all put themselves into the disciple mode they had trained five years for. With helmets on and guns drawn, they storm into the stone room.</p>
<h1> OCTAVIA </h1>
<p>Octavia is back on that stupid cot in her cell, lying on her back. She just watched her brother get blown up and now she is supposed to help these people? She won’t do it. Her tears still fall down her cheeks, but the sobbing ceased. </p>
<p>	She can’t stop thinking about how he died. Or how he got there. He couldn’t have just jumped through if Gabriel opened it because that would have taken them to Skyring. Oh, how she wishes she was back there. It was more of a home than Earth had ever been. She wants to be back there with Diyoza and her little Hope. Of course she missed her brother and Clarke and all her friends, but Skyring was peace. It was a peace she never had the luxury to know.</p>
<p>	That could only mean that he was brought here. Octavia knows these people, and they wouldn’t have done it peacefully. But, from what she remembers, there were no marks on him, no scrapes or scratches. Also, the way that grenade only hit a certain area of the room, but with a force that should have killed that whole room, strikes her as odd.</p>
<p>	But he was there, she saw him. He talked to her, responded to her words. And there was a very real bloodstain on the ground where he was standing. A fresh wave of sobs hits her. She is focusing on something that can’t be real. He couldn’t have survived, even if that’s what we’ve all been doing for over 150 years. </p>
<p>	Her door quietly opens and shuts, but she doesn’t look because she knows who it is. The person kneels down beside her cot and runs a thumb over the crown of her head, which makes more tears fall. “I’m sorry about your brother, Octavia,” Levitt says. </p>
<p>	“How did this happen? Did Bellamy really die in front of me? How did that bomb work? What the hell kind of grenade only blows up certain things?”</p>
<p>	“I have never seen anything like it.”</p>
<p>	“How?” Octavia thinks for a minute before sitting up quickly, Levitt’s hand dropping to her cot. “Have you been lying to me? Being nice to me I will drop my guard?”</p>
<p>	“Octavia, no. Not at all.”</p>
<p>	“Then why can’t you answer my questions?”</p>
<p>	“I think I’m being watched by my superiors because of how I treated you in MCap and coming to help you, so I don’t get told much. I risk a lot coming in and seeing you.” He takes one of her cheeks in his hand, making her look at him through her tears. “And for the life of me, I can’t make myself stop.”</p>
<p>	Octavia relaxes and covers his hand with hers. “I can’t believe he is gone.”</p>
<p>	Levitt kisses her softly on the forehead before saying, “I wish I could stay longer, but like I said, I’m being watched. If I show too much interest in you over our ultimate goal, who knows what will happen to me.”</p>
<p>	“Thank you, for everything.” She drops her hand, giving the silent okay for him to leave, even though all she wants is for him to stay. After he closes the door, she can hear his voice talking to someone outside. She hopes he isn’t in any trouble because of her. </p>
<p>She stands up to go eavesdrop, but the door opens again, and it isn’t Levitt this time.</p>
<h1>CLARKE, RAVEN</h1>
<p>After stepping through the anomaly, Clarke, Raven, Miller, and Niylah find themselves in a bright room. They look around and take it all in, except there is nothing to take in but each other and the stone behind them. Where are they? Did they go to the right place?</p>
<p>	“I just want to go back to Earth,” Miller mutters and Niylah chuckles in agreement. Raven opens her mouth to say something, but three people burst through the door with guns pointed at them. They have the same outfits the others back in Sanctum had. </p>
<p>	Clarke slowly reaches behind her where she has a gun in the waistband of her pants. The other three reach for their weapons as well. </p>
<p>	“Don’t move,” one of them commands, a female voice that sounds oddly familiar. “These weapons can take all three of you down in the time it takes you to draw yours. It is much more advanced.”</p>
<p>	Clarke’s brows furrow. That was a strange thing to point out, but she sees that they have a point. They stand no chance against these people. She raises her hands and looks at her friends to do the same. One of the other guards removes all their weapons. </p>
<p>	The three guards surround the four of them. “Walk.” So, they follow the guard in front until they get to what looks the cell block. They walk past plenty of empty cells, but they must be looking for a specific one. They keep walking until the front guard freezes when a man with black hair comes from a cell. The man looks at Clarke with recognition, even though she knows they have never met. </p>
<p>	“Nice work, Disciples,” he says. “These prisoners can’t be wandering the compound. This cell is prepared for them.” </p>
<p>	Clarke starts to panic. They have been here for all of ten minutes, and they are already being escorted into a cell. They can’t be here! She has to find Bellamy! And Octavia, Echo, and Gabriel! The man that came out of the cell must realize she is about to put up a fight, so he gently says, “Please, everything will be much better for you if you don’t resist.” Something in his tone makes her relax, so she walks into the cell. Whatever happens, they will figure it out. Two of the guards stay inside the cell while the other guards the outside.</p>
<p>The cell is dark, but not dirty or grungy. Still, it’s not somewhere Clarke would wish to spend an indefinite amount of time. She looks around slowly from left to right. When she reaches the other side of the cell, her eyes go wide. </p>
<p>	“Clarke?” </p>
<p>	“Octavia?” Clarke takes three big steps over to her and embraces her tightly. When she lets go to look her in the eyes, she asks, “How did you get here? Did you get taken?”</p>
<p>	“Hope brought me back here.”</p>
<p>	“Hope?” Raven inquires from behind them. “Like, Diyoza’s baby Hope?”</p>
<p>	“Yes. She is about 25 now.”</p>
<p>	“How is that even possible? She wasn’t even born when we got to Sanctum,” Clarke says. </p>
<p>	“Listen, you know how you got here through the anomaly, right?</p>
<p>	“Yeah,” Raven and Clarke both say.</p>
<p>	“But, from the looks of it, Raven figured out how to get here specifically. When I went through it with Diyoza, we went to a different place. We called it Skyring.”</p>
<p>	“Skyring?” Miller asks from the corner of the room.</p>
<p>	“Well, Hope named it that. There was a giant ring in the sky, what else do you expect a five-year-old to come up with?” The group chuckles, and Octavia keeps going. “Time moved differently on Skyring. Diyoza went into the anomaly first, and I followed seconds later. Except, to Diyoza, I arrived 3 months later, and she was in labor. It became my home for ten years. Then, we got taken, and Hope was left behind. I didn’t know if she was dead or alive. Hell, I didn’t even remember she existed until she came through the anomaly at Gabriel’s camp.”</p>
<p>	“Anyways,” Octavia says. “Diyoza and I were taken from Skyring and brought here. I escaped and made it back to Sanctum, but I don’t remember how. Now what they want from me is information about Clarke.”</p>
<p>	“Wait, the three guys that we took down at the camp wanted me to go with them. What do they want with me?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know much, but I know it has to do with the Flame and the memories it holds.”</p>
<p>	“For god’s sake, why does it always come back to that stupid computer chip!” Raven exclaims as she rolls her eyes to the ceiling. </p>
<p>“I know, right?” Octavia agrees. “This ‘Shepherd’ wants something from those memories. He wants to unlock transcendence for the human race.”</p>
<p>	“What does that even mean?” Clarke asks. </p>
<p>“I don’t know. I can’t say how I know what I’ve told you either,” Octavia says while keeping an eye on the guards. She can’t tip them off that Levitt is helping her. “But, they have this machine called and MCap and it digs through your mind and memories. He will get what he wants if we aren’t careful.”</p>
<p>	Clarke paces back and forth in the cell. She settles in the farthest corner from the door, and everyone follows her. If the guards think this is suspicious, they don’t show it or try to stop it. They are probably too proud of their security to think strangers from another planet could get around it. Clarke speaks just loud enough for everyone in the group to hear. “Then we have to plan every detail on how we get Bellamy and the others back.”</p>
<p>	Octavia takes a step back and says under her breath, “About Bellamy…”</p>
<p>	“It may take a while, but this ‘Shepherd’ doesn’t seem like he wants to kill.”</p>
<p>	“About Bellamy…” slightly louder.</p>
<p>	“That works for us because it gives us time.”</p>
<p>	“About Bellamy!” When everyone turns towards her, fresh tears fall down her cheeks. She thought she was done crying, for today anyways, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. </p>
<p>	“Octavia, what is going on?” </p>
<p>	Octavia takes Clarke’s hand and looks into her eyes the best she can. “I’m so sorry, Clarke. He’s dead. He died right in front of me.”</p>
<p>	Just like that, Clarke’s whole world shatters.</p>
<h1>MURPHY, EMORI</h1>
<p>“I don’t want to go,” Murphy groans, laying in his big bed next to the love of his life.</p>
<p>	“As much as I don’t want to either, we can’t lay in bed all day,” Emori says as she sits on the edge of the bed, her back to him. “Clarke and the others have only been gone for a couple hours.”</p>
<p>	“Exactly.” He crawls over to her and kisses her shoulder, trailing them up her neck and to her cheek. “Sanctum won’t fall to the ground in another hour. We finally have time to ourselves. Not to mention the entire house is gone.”</p>
<p>	“Stop it, John,” she giggles. “You’re tempting me.”</p>
<p>	“Good.”</p>
<p>	Emori smiles as he lays her flat on her back again and swings her legs back up on the bed. He climbs over her and plants his lips on hers. Her hands roam over his body as if she doesn’t know every contour or every scar. Soon enough, they take full advantage of having an empty house. </p>
<p>	When they are done, Emori manages to convince Murphy to get up and go into town. They need to see what damage still needs to be dealt with. They get dressed, and as they leave their room, something catches their eyes. Across the hallway, Madi sits cross-legged on her bed with some papers in her lap. She looks up at them and starts to smirk.</p>
<p>“Oh, hey, Madi,” he says sheepishly. “When did you get here?”</p>
<p>	“I’ve been here.”</p>
<p>	“Um, for how long?”</p>
<p>	“Long enough.”</p>
<p>	“Okay then. So you heard…”</p>
<p>	“Yup.”</p>
<p>	Emori can barely hold in her laughter. Murphy says, “We didn’t know you were here. Aren’t you supposed to be getting to know kids or something?”</p>
<p>	“I’m getting my things ready for school tomorrow.”</p>
<p>	“Okay, carry on.” Murphy takes Emori’s hand and drags her down the stairs. Once they are down there and outside, Emori finally lets go of her laughter. “I can’t believe a twelve-year-old just listened to us having sex.”</p>
<p>	“She could have moved to another part of the house,” Emori says.</p>
<p>	“She should have.”</p>
<p>	“But in the couple minutes she got settled somewhere else, it would have been over.” She laughs again, this time right in his face.</p>
<p>	“You’re so rude!” He kisses her. “And a liar.”</p>
<p>	“Fine, I’m a liar. Let’s go get something to eat at the tavern before we work.”</p>
<p>	“Still hungry?” he teases. </p>
<p>	“That’s it, I’m going by myself.” Emori jogs to get a head of him, but he catches up quickly. She clearly isn’t trying too hard to get away. They walk the rest of the way to the tavern and sit at the bar. The place is full of people. It seems to be the hub of activity as cleanup progresses. It’s almost done, from what Murphy could tell. Everyone has been working hard for the last day to get passed what happened. </p>
<p>	“What will you be having?” Delilah’s mother asks. </p>
<p>	“Two burgers, please,” Murphy orders. “What are we supposed to do while they are all gone? Clarke said we need to keep the peace, but there hasn’t been any problems yet.”</p>
<p>	They are interrupted when shouts erupt from the other corner of the room. It looks like some Eligius members are picking on the Sanctumites. Murphy and Emori look at each other, and she says, “Way to jinx it, bonehead.” </p>
<p>	Murphy sighs and heads towards the fight. “What’s going on here?”</p>
<p>“These losers can’t stop talking about the stupid Primals or whatever they’re called. He doesn’t seem to get that they aren’t real,” an Eligius woman, Nikki, explains.</p>
<p>	“They are the PRIMES,” a Sanctum man says. “And they will come save us. Right Daniel Prime?”</p>
<p>	Murphy runs a hand down his face, “Look, I hate to tell you this, but everything you’ve believed about these people is wrong. I’m not this god you grew up knowing. Neither of us are.” He turns to Nikki and tells her quietly, “Look, I know this is new to you, but they need time to figure out their whole religion was made up. It would go much easier, meaning your lives would be much easier, if you stopped taunting them.”</p>
<p>	“I’m not here to obey your orders,” she spits.</p>
<p>	“I’m not ordering you to do anything. I’m asking you to please, give them some time to adjust to their new reality.”</p>
<p>	“Fine.” Her and her crew walk away, leaving Murphy and Emori with the believers. </p>
<p>	“It’s smart to keep your cover, Daniel Prime. Non-believers like that can really cause problems,” the man says. </p>
<p>	“We aren’t keeping covers,” Emori tells him. “We need you all to believe that the Primes are gone. They were just the same people killing others for years to stay alive themselves. It was greed for life that built up your beliefs. It will take time to readjust.”</p>
<p>	“No, you’re wrong. They will be back, and we will all be saved. You will regret going against the Primes like this. You <em>will</em> regret it.” The man walks away, but the two of them take heed in his warning.</p>
<h1>BELLAMY</h1>
<p>Bellamy wakes up in a blinding white room strapped to a chair. The last thing he remembers is getting attacked at Gabriel’s camp. By the way he feels, and the scrapes and scratches he can see from his restricted view, he was dragged away. Where is O? Where is Gabriel and Echo and that other girl that stabbed his sister? Where is <em>he</em>?</p>
<p>	He frantically takes in everything in the room he can see. There is a computer in the corner, and a cabinet holding some kind of medicine or drug. Lastly, he looks straight ahead of him, finally noticing the biggest thing in the room. There is a giant screen where a video waits to be played. Bellamy, feeling his eyes getting dry, tries to blink but can’t. His eyes are being held open. Someone walks up to him and puts eyedrops in them.</p>
<p>	Then something pokes his arm and a dull throb spreads throughout his body. His body starts to relax, but his mind stays alert and conscious. The eyedrops keep his eyes hydrated at regular intervals. Just as he is about to ask what is going on, a man steps in front of the screen. He has graying brown hair almost reaching his shoulders and a gray beard. He looks vaguely familiar, but whatever is coursing through him is clouding his memory. </p>
<p>“Hello, Bellamy. It’s nice to finally meet you,” the man says. </p>
<p>	“I know you…” Bellamy says, not quite able to put his finger on who this guy is.</p>
<p>The man walks out of Bellamy’s view, “Your questions will be answered soon.”</p>
<p>A different person says, “He is prepped. Shall we begin, my Shepherd?”</p>
<p>	Shepherd? Who are these people? He has more questions, but they slowly start to leave his brain. What is happening to him? He is having a harder time concentrating now, and his thoughts are getting all jumbled.</p>
<p>	“Yes, Anders, begin his training. He will join our ranks after the process is complete and is vital in getting Clarke Griffin to cooperate. With him on our side, and Clarke’s memories to follow, the Bardo population will be in our control soon.”</p>
<p>	Normally, the mention of Clarke’s name would ignite something in him. It would make him panic, fight tooth and nail to get to her. Right now, though, all he does is sit there. It’s like everything he has ever cared about drains out of him. A loud sound erupts from speakers and the screen starts playing a video. </p>
<p>	The same man that just spoke to him appears digitally. Finally, he remembers where he has seen him before. How is he here? The bunker was created before the bombs went off on Earth, which was hundreds of years ago. He shouldn’t even be alive, although technically, neither should him or any of his friends. Bellamy wants to panic again, try and escape, but he can’t think straight anymore. Whatever they did to him is fully taking effect. </p>
<p>The man starts talking onscreen. “Transcendence; our final goal. It is the last step to living the lives we are meant to live.” Pictures of battlegrounds, decimated cities, and crying women and children flash in front of him. “You see, centuries ago, there was a world that was dominated by greed, and this greed caused the people to become selfish. They only lived for themselves and never contributed to the greater good. It was a dark time.”</p>
<p>“Throughout the years, wars were fought over smaller and smaller conflicts. Then, when an actual crisis occurred, no one could agree on how to handle it. So, being the generous and intelligent man I am, I saved the human race, even though it could be argued that no one deserved it. I came up with the plans and anyone that could get to me in time was saved. Then, after years of research, I found the secret to transcendence. The problem is it requires greed to be nonexistent and to love everyone the same. There is no room for extreme measures to save that one person. You must act on what is best for the greater people rather than yourself or the minority. You must love everyone over the one.”</p>
<p>Bellamy can’t believe how much good this man has done. He saved the whole human race when it wasn’t his responsibility. He understands how trying to save the many over the one makes sense. How can one person be so important when the whole race could be at stake?</p>
<p>As the video plays on, more rules and beliefs are stated, and Bellamy finds himself agreeing with each one. He wants to transcend. He wants his friends and family to transcend, and he will do whatever his Shepherd needs him to do to make it happen. The final statement of his training video drives it home. “So, while we work towards obtaining the last key to unlock our transcendence, it is important to continue the Shepherd’s work, my work. You are now ready to become a disciple and progress towards your transcendence.”</p>
<p>When the screen goes dark, the room is silent for a moment. Then, he regains control of his eyes and all other restraints are removed. Bellamy stands from the chair and stretches. He looks over to the man with gray hair. In the back of his mind he knows who the man is, but that can’t be a factor anymore. They all need him to stay alive long enough for the whole race to transcend. </p>
<p>Bellamy slightly bows his head towards him and says, “Where do we begin, my Shepherd?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I started this with each heading saying where the people were located, but as the story progresses and they all get to be in the same place, it gets repetitive.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Episode 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Murphy and Emori do their best to keep the peace at home while everyone else on Bardo struggles with the news of Bellamy's death.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1> MURPHY AND EMORI </h1>
<p>“I’m starting to worry about them,” Emori says as she and Murphy make their way to the palace. They have been busy splitting up petty arguments between the four factions of people in Sanctum all day. First, there is the Eligius crew. They realize that they are here to have a new life, but they still cause trouble just because they can. Then there is Wonkru, which mostly has turf wars with Eligius but there have been some pretty big fights over god knows what. Third, there are the Sanctumites that want to live their own lives. They understand how the Primes manipulated them all these years, and they just want to go back to normal but with no one making them believe they are inferior. </p>
<p>	Lastly, there are the Sanctumites that still believe in the Primes. These are the people Murphy and Emori have been having the most issues with. They talk to everyone who will listen in small groups, which usually split up when the two of them get near. When the people they are trying to convince still don’t believe them, though, they get violent. Murphy didn’t think there were that many faithful still in Sanctum given what happened, but by the amount of fights he has had to break up today, they are spread all over the little town. </p>
<p>	Right now, Murphy and Emori are on their way to check on Russell. After everyone got back from space, they put him in an empty room in the palace until they knew what to do with him. Someone, Jackson maybe, has taken him a couple meals since then, but otherwise no one has seen him. </p>
<p>	“I am too, but Clarke’s a survivor. They all are, and they will come home. Right now we need to focus on keeping our new home peaceful,” he says. “We need to get some answers from Russell.”</p>
<p>	“Like how he managed to brainwash a whole population?”</p>
<p>	“Exactly, and how we can undo it.” They walk up a couple flights of stairs hand in hand, and then pause outside of the door. Murphy reaches for the knob, but a sound makes him look back the way he came. They were checking the entire time if someone was following, so he was sure no one was. He ignores it. It was probably just something outside anyways. “Well, here we go.”</p>
<p>	Murphy opens the door and leads the way in. He didn’t tell her this, but if that maniac managed to find something to throw at whoever stepped through first, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Emori be the target. Thankfully, nothing goes flying towards him. </p>
<p>	“What do you want?” Russell asks in a low, gravelly voice. He is shackled to a thick pipe on the wall, nothing in arm’s reach except for the untouched plate of food that was delivered recently. </p>
<p>	“We need you to answer some questions,” says Murphy. </p>
<p>	“And why would I do that?”</p>
<p>	“What else do you have to live for?”</p>
<p>	Russell’s eyes suddenly go wide, his face gets very red, and struggles against his chains. “NOTHING! I have NOTHING to live for! My family, my friends are all dead! YOU KILLED THEM! And you think I am going to <em>help you?</em> Think again.”</p>
<p>Emori interjects, “If you help us, and once everyone stops fighting with each other, you will be free. We need the ones that still believe in the Primes, in you, to stop because they are causing a lot of trouble.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t want freedom.”</p>
<p>	“Then what the hell do you want?” Murphy asks. </p>
<p>	“I want DEATH! But you all are sticking to your <em>high road</em> and won’t give it to me!”</p>
<p>He is right. All of them agreed after they won that no one else was dying by their hands. Murphy never thought this asshole deserved to live another day, but he wasn’t about to start an argument among the group over one guy that they already had control over. </p>
<p>	“Look, as soon as you’re free, you can do whatever you want to yourself after that.” Emori gives him a warning look, but he continues. “Once you help us, and we get this place to a Primes-free society, no one will stop you.”</p>
<p>	He finally looks like he might cooperate. “Fine,” Russell says reluctantly. “What do you need to know?”</p>
<p>	“How did you brainwash everyone?” Murphy asks.</p>
<p>	“What he means,” Emori says, “is how did your people start thinking of you as gods? How did they go along with it for all these years? And how do we make them realize they’ve been lied to?”</p>
<p>	“Starting a civilization wasn’t easy, especially when you kill nearly everyone because of an eclipse. Gabriel and I spent 25 years perfecting the mind drives and bringing Josephine back. Once we perfected it, we used more of the embryos to bring back everyone I murdered, and then the population of Sanctum.”</p>
<p>	“We know this already,” Murphy says impatiently. “What’s the point?”</p>
<p>	“Us founders were the best thing for Sanctum. We knew the world more than anyone else, so we made sure we were there to protect everyone. We brought ourselves back under the guise of being divine and let everyone believe in us as gods so we could keep them under our rule. Nobody questioned it because if they did, punishment would have followed.”</p>
<p>	“And you didn’t feel bad at all for doing this for two hundred years?”</p>
<p>	Russell looks angry again, like he is about to yell at them, but he doesn’t. Instead he releases a breath and calmly says, “We built this place with certain ideas in mind. No one wanted us to see it get ruined by people who didn’t see the same as us. The mind drives were first just a way to right my wrong, but then we all decided we could do so much more with them. Besides, it’s hard not to believe in gods when they return every time they die.”</p>
<p>	“So all you did was ‘prove’ you were gods by reincarnation but leave out the simple fact that it was all bullshit and they were being led by psychopaths.” Murphy pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “I can’t believe they went with it for so long.”</p>
<p>“Yes. And if there are still people out there that believe in us, I think you will find it difficult to change their minds based on the word of people who got here less than a month ago.”</p>
<p>	“We will figure it out.” Murphy takes Emori’s hand and ushers her out of the room. They can still hear Russell’s slow but maniacal laughter after the door closes. “Well, he was no help.”</p>
<p>	“No, but like you said, we will figure it out. Let’s go eat, it’s been a long day.” They walk to the tavern. When they get there, it’s chaos, and not because of people fighting. They go to the crowded bar to see what is going on, but all they see is a teenage girl running around the room like a madwoman. </p>
<p>	As soon as the girl gets close, Emori stops her. “Hey, what’s going on?”</p>
<p>	“It’s the dinner rush, but I’m the only one here.”</p>
<p>	“Where are Delilah’s parents? I’ve never seen them not in here before.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know. Her dad hasn’t been here for a couple days, but I thought he may have just been sick. But then Blythe hasn’t been here since yesterday. She is never sick and always tells someone if she is going somewhere. Excuse me, but I have to get back to work.”</p>
<p>	When she is out of earshot, Murphy whispers, “This is odd. I know we don’t know them well, but there wasn’t a day before all hell broke loose that Delilah’s parents weren’t here. I would know; I sat at this bar quite often.”</p>
<p> 	“Let’s go see the doctor and ask if he has seen them. If they were hurt or sick, there is a good chance they went there.”</p>
<p>	“My girl is so smart.” The two of them walk out the door and across the center of Sanctum to the doctor’s building. It doesn’t look near as busy as it did during the aftermath of the battle, but there is still a room full people in the waiting area when the doctor comes out. To their surprise, though, it’s Jackson. </p>
<p>	He looks down at his clipboard. “Annie? Is Annie out here?” He looks up as a little girl and her mom gets to their feet, and he sees Murphy and Emori in the door. “Oh, hey guys. What’s up?”</p>
<p>	“Have you or the other doctor seen Delilah’s parents come through here in the past couple days?” Emori asks him.</p>
<p>	“No, I haven’t. I’ve been here almost every minute I haven’t been at the house, trying to help out and learn how to use their advanced medical technology. But I’ve actually been here by myself for a day now. The doctor went out to get more supplies but never came back. I have been too busy here to go check on him.” Jackson turns to the girl and her mother. “Right this way.”</p>
<p>	“Something strange is happening.’</p>
<p>	“We have to get to the bottom of this,” Emori agrees. They walk around the town and talk to everyone they can. They ask about loved ones, friends, sometimes even enemies. It takes well into the night. The sky is dark, but fires illuminate the streets of the city. After they speak with what has to have been the entire Sanctum population, and finding out that quite a few people are missing, they make their way back to the house. </p>
<p>“We got nowhere today,” says Murphy. </p>
<p>	“Not necessarily. We know that the Primes believers are getting very dangerous, Russell wants nothing more than to die, and now people are disappearing. I will give you one guess as to who is responsible for it.”</p>
<p>	“I know, but we are walking on thin ice already. We can’t go around accusing these people of doing more wrong if we don’t know for sure.”</p>
<p>	“You’re right. Let’s go home, get some sleep, and worry about it tomorrow.” Emori kisses him and takes his hand. They are almost to the street that leads to the house when a noise turns their heads. Nobody comes this way typically because it is the edge of town. Through the darkness, they both watch as somebody gets dragged into a small shed. </p>
<p>	“What the hell?” Before Emori can stop him, he runs into the shed, so she quickly follows him. Once inside, they find everyone they were told has gone missing. There is Blythe and her husband, the doctor, and all the others that were reported, some of them small kids. After looking around, he even sees Nikki bound in a corner.</p>
<p>	“Daniel Prime and Kaylee Prime,” a voice says from the side of the room. It is Zev, Daniel Lee’s boyfriend from his last host. “I’m glad you could witness this cleansing.”</p>
<p>	Murphy walks up to him and gets in his face. “Cleansing? This isn’t cleansing, this is murder!”</p>
<p>	“We need the Primes to come back, and this is the only way. Once these people, these non-believers, are gone, the Primes will return to us. They all must die, for the glory and grace of the Primes.”</p>
<p>	“How many times do we have to tell you that the Primes are not real. They manipulated you with genetically engineered blood! There is nothing royal about it!”</p>
<p>	“You’re wrong! How can you say such things against the royal blood when you have it yourself?”</p>
<p>	Murphy pauses, an idea forming in his mind. “Follow me.”</p>
<p>	“Nothing you do will dissolve my faith.”</p>
<p>	“Then you won’t mind hearing what I have to say.” Murphy and Emori unties everyone, and Murphy has to restrain Nikki once she is free. “Nikki, go get Jackson in the medical building and tell him to meet us in the skeleton room. And also to bring the equipment to create night blood,” he instructs her quietly. </p>
<p>	“After I strangle that guy.”</p>
<p>	“Huh, with that attitude, I never would have thought you could have gotten captured. Just go get Jackson, we don’t need any more trouble right now.” With a huff of anger, she leaves. “We are going to the skeleton room.”</p>
<p>	“The mausoleum is a sacred room in the palace,” Zev says. </p>
<p>“If you still believe we are Primes, then I guess we are allowed. And we can take whoever we want with us.” Murphy leads the man and other faithful towards the palace, and Emori walks right next to him. </p>
<p>	Quietly, she asks, “What are you doing?”</p>
<p>	“Proving it.”</p>
<p>	Jackson meets them at the palace, and Murphy and Emori lead them through the skeletons and into the medical room where the mind drive procedure is performed. “What exactly are we doing here?” Jackson asks Murphy and Emori once he gets set up. </p>
<p>	“We are proving to these people that the Primes were manipulative bastards and not the gods they were told to believe in by showing them the video of Josephine’s first mind drive installation,” Murphy explains.</p>
<p>	“And if this doesn’t work?” asks Emori.</p>
<p>	“Then it’s Jackson’s turn and we create some night blood.” </p>
<p>Murphy barely remembers how to get into he videos of Russell and Gabriel’s experiments, but he gets to them eventually. Finally, he addresses the group. “I know you all don’t want to hear this, but Primes are not real. All they are is a group of people that never wanted to lose power over you. I am about to show the real truth behind the Primes. It was just a series of scientific experiments. I am going to show you the video of the first time Josephine was brought back to life, and this is how every Prime came back. It wasn’t as scary after they got the procedure down, but it’s how it happened.” </p>
<p>	Murphy plays the video and watches everyone as they stare at the screen in disgust. The new Josphine falls off the table and they listen to them talk about perfecting the mind drives. If this doesn’t convince them they were manipulated, he doesn’t know what will.</p>
<p>	The group is silent. Eventually Zev says, “This is what the Primes have been doing all these years?”</p>
<p>	“We tried telling you this before, but some of you clearly didn’t believe it. This violence you are all creating needs to stop. If we are going to live together on this planet, we can’t be at each other’s throats the entire time.”</p>
<p>	“How are we supposed to let go of our entire faith? Our lives have always been dedicated to these people. Are they gone?”</p>
<p>	Emori gives him a sympathetic look. “It doesn’t have to go away all at once. The most important thing is that these people are not the gods you thought they were. Eventually you will get to spot where your entire lives don’t revolve around the Primes.”</p>
<p>	“I just can’t believe it. Let me talk with the faithful.” Zev gathers his people in the opposite corner of the room, and they all talk quietly.<br/>
“What do they even have to discuss?” Murphy asks Emori and Jackson. “They finally understand what Russell and Simone has done to them for two centuries, but they need to have a little discussion first?”</p>
<p>“Just let them do what they need to,” Emori tells him. “Jackson, thank you for coming, but it looks like we don’t need to make a night blood tonight. We will see you at home.”<br/>
Fifteen slow minutes of discussion later, Zev approaches Murphy and Emori. “We will stop causing disturbances over the Primes and apologize to those we hurt, but we will not stand down if we get attacked.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Emori says. “That is all we ask for.”</p>
<p>“Good night.” Zev shakes Muprhy’s hand before leading his group of people out of the palace. </p>
<p>“That went surprisingly well.” Emori wraps her arms around Murphy’s shoulders. </p>
<p>“Only because you were here. It would have gone very differently had I been here alone.”</p>
<p>“Very true. Let’s go, John. I’m ready for bed.” She gives him a peck on the lips, and they head back home for the night.</p>
<p>And as everyone goes to bed in their large farmhouse, an unknown man that came from the woods stalks around Sanctum. He takes notes, he follows people of perceived importance, and makes plans for what he is preparing to do. Soon this world will know the news of the Shepherd.</p><h1> CLARKE, RAVEN, OCTAVIA, GABRIEL, ECHO, HOPE, BELLAMY </h1>
<p>Clarke stares at Octavia, mouth slightly open. Did she hear her right? Did she just say Bellamy is dead? That can’t be, Clarke would know it. He is one of the two reasons she chooses to keep living, so there is no way he is just gone. Right?</p>
<p>	“I know you don’t want to believe it, I didn’t either,” Octavia says through her tears, “but I saw it happen.”</p>
<p>	Octavia pulls Clarke into her arms, but she doesn’t reciprocate. Clarke stands there numb, still trying to figure out how this could have happened. She doesn’t feel or hear anything, even the switch from Octavia’s arms to Raven’s. There is no dry eye in the room. </p>
<p>	“This can’t be happening,” Clarke says. “He can’t be gone. He can’t be… can’t be…” She falls to her knees and presses her forehead into the ground. Everyone cries, from Clarke’s gut-wrenching sobs to Miller subtly wiping away tears. Nobody expects what comes next. </p>
<p>	One of the guards walks over to the group. Clarke stands up and wipes the tears from her eyes, ready to argue or negotiate, which ever is required. The guard only says two words, though. “He’s dead?” It’s the same one that warned them about their weapons and Clarke suddenly knows why the voice sounded so familiar. Before the guard’s helmet is off, she knows who she is going to see. </p>
<p>	“What do you mean he is dead?” Echo asks, tears falling down her cheeks as well. “How do you know? What did they use?”</p>
<p>Raven runs into Echo’s arms, as if that will give her the answers she wants. Echo embraces her back eventually, but stares Octavia down, waiting for her to say something. She doesn’t get to, though, because the other guard runs to her and practically tackles her. Octavia is still for a moment but figures out who it must be under that helmet. </p>
<p>Octavia removes the helmet and starts crying some more. “Hope? How did you get here? Did you come with Echo? Where is Gabriel?”</p>
<p>	“Gabriel is outside,” Echo tells them impatiently. “How did Bellamy die, Octavia?”</p>
<p>	“We were in the stone room and there was an explosion.”</p>
<p>	Hope puts her hands on Octavia’s shoulders and says, “Auntie O, I’m so sorry.”</p>
<p>	“Then you how did you survive?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know.”</p>
<p>	“How do you not know!” Echo starts pacing across the cell floor. Her eyes are still wet, and brows are pinched together. Clarke knows what she is thinking. “We are going to kill them all.”</p>
<p>	“No, we aren’t,” Clarke says, even though that’s exactly what she has wanted since Octavia broke the news. </p>
<p>	“How can you say that! You of all people should understand that this is the only way we get our revenge! You are the Commander of Death, after all.” Echo grabs her gun and her helmet and prepares to storm out of the cell, but the door opens and Gabriel steps through to stop her. </p>
<p>	“Listen, you weren’t even supposed to tell these guys we were here so we had leverage,” he says. “Now you think I’m going to let you rampage around here killing everyone? Not going to happen.”</p>
<p>	“He’s right, Echo,” says Clarke. “It’s not what Bellamy would want. He would want us to save our people and get out. Well, we have everyone and now it’s time to get out.” When Echo backs down, Gabriel steps back outside to guard the door again.</p>
<p>	“They won’t stop until they get you, Clarke,” Octavia points out. “They need your memories to get what they want.”</p>
<p>	“Then I give them what they want. Gabriel can lead me to where they need me and then get the rest of you all get out. Once they have it maybe they will let me go.”</p>
<p>	“That’s ridiculous and you know it!” Raven turns Clarke so she is facing her and grips her shoulders. “You are NOT going to keep sacrificing yourself! We are going to escape by making a plan that gets all of us out. And honestly, it could be as simple as having Hope, Echo, and Gabriel lead us to the stone room, and I can open it.”</p>
<p>	“But Octavia is right, they won’t stop until they get me, and it’s just me they want. You guys can all go.”</p>
<p>“That’s not the issue and you know it! You can’t constantly be giving yourself up because you think it’s what you deserve! Look, even if they get whatever they want from your head, it doesn’t mean they will stop. You have <em>no idea </em>what they want.”</p>
<p>“I have to try… Bellamy would have tried…” Fresh tears fall down Clarke’s face. “He would have done whatever he could to make sure everyone he loves gets to safety. I’m just trying to do what he would have done.”</p>
<p>“I know, but I can imagine that if he were here right now he would try to talk you out of it the same way I am.” Raven pulls Clarke to her chest. “Please, let’s figure out a different way.”</p>
<p>	Clarke lazily returns her hug, but she doesn’t change her mind. She does realize that she can’t save her friends if they know what she is planning. “Fine, we will figure it out.”</p>
<p>	Octavia sits down on her cot and asks Hope, “Where have you been all this time? You stabbed me to get me back here, but then what? How did you and Echo and Gabriel get here together?”</p>
<p>	“We were home,” Hope says. Her and Echo explain their lives for the past five years. Echo tells them about following Bellamy through the anomaly but ending up on Skyring. They talk about fighting and training for five years, meeting Dev and him helping them become the non-disciples they are right now. For a while, everyone forgot all the pain they were in. Hope told stories about Gabriel’s minor obsession with food and everyone laughed. </p>
<p>	“Wait, Echo,” Octavia says. “You said he was dragged across the ground unconscious to get here?”</p>
<p>	“Yeah, what about it?”</p>
<p>	“When I saw Bellamy in the stone room, there were no cuts, no bruises, no nothing. His clothes were clean, and he told me he came through the anomaly to find me.”</p>
<p>	Clarke starts to understand what that could mean, but before she let hope surge through her chest, Gabriel’s head suddenly pokes through the door again. “The Shepherd is coming to speak to Clarke. Get back in your positions. And the rest of you, don’t show your weapons. You aren’t supposed to have them.” <br/>Echo and Hope put on their helmets and stand at attention at the door while everyone else hides whatever weapon can’t be concealed on their body. A minute later, Gabriel opens the door and an older man with gray shoulder length hair walks through. He looks at each person in the room before settling on Clark. </p>
<p>	“Hello, Clarke Griffin.”</p>
<p>	“What do you want with me?” she asks. </p>
<p>	“Just some information. I need—”</p>
<p>	“Wait… I know you.” The man’s face is slightly more aged than in the video Jaha showed them all those years ago, but she still recognizes him. “You’re Bill Cadogan, creator and cult leader of the Second Dawn bunker.”</p>
<p>	“Nice to meet you,” he says politely. “Now please, I am searching for some information that you may have from the chip in your head.”</p>
<p>	He doesn’t know she doesn’t have the Flame Clarke realizes. That’s even better, but she has to fight a little first. “Why would I help you? You killed my best friend.”</p>
<p>	“Oh, about that.” Cadogan turns towards the door and knocks on it twice. “Maybe this will change your mind.”</p>
<p>	The door opens, and a fire ignites her spirit once again. There, dressed in the same dumb white clothes as Cadogan, stands Bellamy Blake. </p>
<p>Alive.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I love reading everyone's comments, and I hope this is a decent rewrite for season 7! Thank you so much for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Episode 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bellamy is back, but very different than everyone expected. Murphy, Emori, and the Sanctum gang try a new approach to peace.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>OCTAVIA, RAVEN, ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE </h1>
<p>Octavia can’t believe her eyes. Her brother stands before them all, alive, but she can’t figure out how. She saw him get blown up. She saw the floor splattered in the pink mist where he had stood. The only details that seemed out of place were the bombs that only destroyed part of the room and Echo’s story about him getting dragged through the woods. Those alone gave her the idea that her brother may still be alive, but she knows how dangerous hope can be. Now that he is here, in his white clothes by a cult leader’s side, he seems more dangerous than ever. </p>
<p>	Even then, she can’t contain her happiness that he is alive. She takes a couple steps towards him saying, “Bellamy!”</p>
<p>	“No,” Cadogan says as she approaches her brother, his eyes never leaving Clarke’s. Echo and Hope, knowing what he is commanding, point their weapons at Octavia, <br/>stopping her. Instead, Cadogan steps aside and out of Clarke’s path to Bellamy. “Go ahead,” he tells her. </p>
<p>	Clarke is wary, but the need to wrap her arms around Bellamy is overwhelming. He looks so different in these white clothes and shaved face. It is the brightest outfit she has ever seen him in. Her heart beats out of her chest as she takes three big steps to get to him and hugs him. Clarke nuzzles her nose into the crook of his neck and breathes him in. </p>
<p>	“What’s your plan, Clarke? I can help you.” he whispers in her ear. He returns her embrace tightly, a hand winding into her blonde curls, and she feels a moment of peace and normality.</p>
<p>	She doesn’t have the time to tell him everything, but she quickly summarizes, “Cadogan needs the Flame and he doesn’t know we destroyed it, so I’m letting him believe I have it so I can get everyone out.”</p>
<p>	“Thank you.” His arms drop to his sides. He steps away from her towards Cadogan, leaving her standing there alone and confused. “My Shepherd, she doesn’t have the Flame, and she only wishes to deceive you to help her friends.” Everyone in the room stares at him, completely shocked.</p>
<p>	“Thank you, Disciple Blake.”</p>
<p>	“Disciple? Bellamy, what the hell is he talking about?” Raven asks him, clearly annoyed.</p>
<p>	Cadogan walks to the door, but before he leaves, he turns to everyone and tells them, “Listen to your friend. Maybe he can persuade you to join our journey towards transcendence.” When he is gone, and the guards, Echo and Hope, are stationed outside of the door with Gabriel, everyone turns to Bellamy.</p>
<p>	“What the hell are you doing?!” Clarke exclaims. “Please tell me there was a good reason for betraying us like that. Do you have a better plan?”</p>
<p>	“My only goal is to get you all to see what I see. I have been enlightened to the possibility of transcendence, and it’s beautiful. We have to help the Shepherd get what he needs so he can get us there.”</p>
<p>	“Do you actually hear what you are saying? I can’t believe you are on his side! What happened to ‘together’? What about saving our friends and family?”</p>
<p>“I <em>am</em> saving you!” Despite everyone being in the room, Bellamy looks at Clarke as if she is the only one there; as if she is the only one he truly wants to get through to. The longing in his eyes try to will her into his perspective. “I am saving all of us! All we ever do is go to war. We can promise ourselves and everyone else that we won’t fight anymore, but you know it’s not true! It’s what we do! I am still the same person you all know, but now I’m fighting for the human race and not just our people. Clarke, I thought you would understand the most.”</p>
<p>	Octavia approaches him slowly. “You don’t seem the same, big brother. Nothing about this matches up. The Bellamy we all know would never team up with the enemy like this.”</p>
<p>	“The Bellamy you all know is right here! Look, I don’t know what is going to happen to you guys if you don’t listen to me, so I am begging you. <em>Please</em> join us.”</p>
<p>	Unexpectedly, Echo storms in, takes off her helmet and steps in front of Bellamy. “All of us mean nothing more than the rest of the people on this planet? What about me? Or Octavia, or Clarke? Do you even care anymore that we are in danger?”</p>
<p>	“Echo, what are you doing here? Is Gabriel here?” He doesn’t even know Hope.</p>
<p>	“No, I followed you into the anomaly and the others didn’t have the guts. Now answer me.”</p>
<p>“Of course I care. That’s why I am here. Only now I understand that a small group of people like yourselves can’t hinder the Shepherd’s plan because he intends to save the entire human race.”</p>
<p>“What you’re saying is if these people try to hurt, or possibly kill us, you won’t stop them?” </p>
<p>Bellamy sighs and looks down at the ground. “I’m sorry, but if you can’t comply and join our forces, what happens is out of my control.”</p>
<p>Everyone stands there, staring at the man they used to know. Then Echo asks, “So this is it?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry Echo, but no one, not even you, can have a bigger place in my heart than anyone else. It’s how we will transcend.” Bellamy steps over to the door, avoiding eye contact with both Echo and Clarke. I take it that none of you will be joining the Shepherd?”</p>
<p>“Seriously, man? No way.”  Miller says. It’s the first time he’s said anything since seeing Bellamy alive. Everyone mutters rejection along with Miller.</p>
<p>“Well, then I’m sorry for what’s about to happen.”</p>
<p>“You have said ‘I’m sorry’ three times so far, and I have yet to feel like you actually mean it,” Clarke spits.</p>
<p>Bellamy cracks open the door and speaks to two disciples they don’t know. They immediately walk in and take Clarke by the arms. </p>
<p>“Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!”</p>
<p>Hope and Gabriel follow and point their weapons at anyone who tries to stop them. The other disciples also confiscate Echo’s weapon and helmet. </p>
<p>“I guess I’m sor…,” Bellamy looks to the ground again. When he looks back up at his friends, he says. “Well, I wish you would all believe me that I am.” With nothing else to say, Bellamy leads the disciples and Clarke out of the cell. </p>
<p>	Hope and Gabriel leave as well to guard outside, but only for a minute. “We waited until they were gone to come back in. What are we going to do?” Hope asks once her helmet is off again.</p>
<p>	“We have to go save Clarke,” Raven says. “You all know she would come for us.”</p>
<p>	“I think so, too,” says Niylah.</p>
<p>	“Yes, she would,” Gabriel agrees, “but we can’t just attack them from behind. The disciples aren’t easy targets. Hope, Echo, and I trained for five years to get to where we are. And thanks to Echo we are one inside man down.”</p>
<p>	“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it.”</p>
<p>	“And we were worried Hope was going to be the one to go off the rails,” he says. </p>
<p>	Hope scoffs. “I’m right here you know.”</p>
<p>	“Wait, I have an idea,” Octavia says. Everyone, now standing in a close circle in the middle of the cell, looks to her. “While I’ve been here, there has been a guy that’s been helping me. His name is Levitt. If we can find him, maybe he can help all of us save Clarke and get the hell out of here.”</p>
<p>	“Ok, but what about Bellamy?” Raven asks. She thought Echo would have asked about him, but Echo doesn’t seem to want to talk about Bellamy or their breakup. “We can’t just leave him.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t want to leave my brother either, but it doesn’t seem like he is in any immediate danger. If we can get Levitt to help us, get Clarke, and escape, we can come back when we have a better idea of what is going on and get him back, too.”</p>
<p>	Echo nods and says, “Sounds like a decent plan. Where can we find Levitt?”</p>
<p>	“Well, he is usually running the MCap, which is where I assume Clarke is being taken, but he has been laying low recently. He told me he is being watched because he’s been helping me. I think Hope should escort me around the area and maybe we can find him. Gabriel, keep everyone in this room.” </p>
<p>	“So, we are searching for a needle in a haystack,” Hope says. When everyone but Octavia stares blankly at her, she explains, “It’s a saying my mom used growing up. We are looking for one person in a very large place where he could be literally anywhere.”</p>
<p>	“Yes, but if he comes this way eventually to check on me, we can bring him here to explain our plan.”</p>
<p>	“Why don’t we just wait here for him to come to you?” Miller asks. “That seems the safest way.”</p>
<p>	“It does,” Octavia says, “but like I said, he is being watched. He may not come close enough for us to get to him. We have to find him ourselves. All we have to do is walk the nearest corridors as if Hope is escorting me to my cell. Once we find him, we bring him here and come up with another plan that Levitt can help us with.”<br/>“Alright, let’s do this.” Hope dons her helmet and weapon again and points it at Octavia’s back. They exit the cell and leaves everyone else to wait. “How far are we going from the others?”</p>
<p>“I haven’t been anywhere except the stone room and the MCap, so I don’t know how to get around. The important thing is we don’t get lost.”</p>
<p>	The two of them roam the halls for at least a half hour. It’s They follow the same route dozens of times and yet Levitt is nowhere to be seen. Octavia wonders if they will ever find him. Bardo is a huge place. It will take a stroke of luck to find Levitt in one of these hallways at exactly the right time. </p>
<p>	“Maybe we should go back and come up with a different plan,” Hope suggests.</p>
<p>	“We can’t. There is nothing else we can do in there except wait for Cadogan to give the order to kill us.” Octavia stops them and looks around. It wouldn’t be as easy to get lost if all the hallways didn’t look exactly the same. “We need to go out farther.”</p>
<p>	“We can’t!” Hope whisper shouts at Octavia. “We are already losing track of where we are. The only thing we do know is that the farther we go, the closer we get to MCap or <br/>other disciples.”</p>
<p>	“It’s our only choice.” Octavia leads them up new hallways and around new corners. When one of them peeks into the next hall and there is a disciple, the run back the way they came. This plan works for a while, but it doesn’t take long for the blank white walls to disorient them enough that they have no idea where they are anymore. “Damnit!”</p>
<p>	“Told you so, Auntie O.”</p>
<p>	“Yeah, yeah, you got me, little one. We need to get back to our cell.”</p>
<p>	“How? We are completely lost.”</p>
<p>	“Don’t you have something in that disciple uniform that can help?”</p>
<p>	“Maybe. Let me look.” Hope tries to maneuver through the technology driven suit. They were the only thing they couldn’t train in on Skyring, so Orlando had to talk them through the basics. It was nearly impossible without the hands-on experience. “I have no idea how this thing works.” </p>
<p>	“Ok, so we wing it. We can figure this out,” Octavia says, but she isn’t sure how much she means it. They dug their own grave this time. The two of them wander around, trying to find their friends again, until someone stops them. </p>
<p>	“What are you doing here?” It’s a male disciple neither of them recognizes, so they could be in trouble. Hope pushes Octavia in front of her and presses the gun into the small of her back.</p>
<p>	“This prisoner escaped her cell, so I am escorting her back.”</p>
<p>	The man scoffs and says, “Newbie. You’re lucky the Shepherd is busy, or he would send you to Penance for this. I’ll go with you so you don’t screw up again. Lead the way, I’ll be on your six.”</p>
<p>	“You don’t have to, I’ve got this.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>	“Are you disobeying a superior?”</p>
<p>Hope curses in her head but says, “No, sir. Let’s go.” Hope is trained as a level twelve disciple, but if they said so, she would have to prove it. To prove it, she would have to take off her helmet to show the black markings Orlando put on her. They are trying to get by without showing her face.</p>
<p>	The three of them walk down a few hallways, exactly like the others Octavia and Hope got lost in. Hope thinks of how to take care of this guy when they get to the cell because there are always supposed to be disciples guarding cells. When he sees no one is there, he will know something is up. </p>
<p>	“Hey! What’s going on?” Everyone turns their head to the voice behind them, but Octavia knows who it is. “What happened?”</p>
<p>	“The prisoner escaped, and this newbie is taking her back to her cell,” The disciple explains.</p>
<p>	“I will take them. I’m sure you have much more important business to attend to,” says Levitt as he steps next to Octavia, partially blocking her from the other man. </p>
<p>	The disciple looks between the three of them. Hope tenses up behind Octavia, but before she does anything rash, the disciple says, “Fine. I suppose you can take care of her. Good luck.” The man smiles and then leaves the way they had come. </p>
<p>	Once he is completely out of view, Octavia wraps her arms around Levitt’s neck in a tight embrace. He reciprocates as well. “It took so long to find you! We got lost.”<br/>“I see that. Why were you looking for me?”</p>
<p>“Bellamy is alive.”</p>
<p>“Really? How?”</p>
<p>“I’m still not sure, but he is. Cadogan brought him in so he could convince us to join them. Then they took Clarke away. Something isn’t right, Levitt.”</p>
<p>“Look,” Hope says. “Can we update him when we get back? I prefer not to stand out here in the open.”</p>
<p>“Good point.” Levitt nods and directs them through the confusing white halls back to the cell where Raven, Niylah, Miller, and Echo are waiting. They had reclaimed their weapons, and when Levitt stepped into the cell, they all point them at him. </p>
<p>	Octavia has to step in front of him to keep them from shooting. “Woah, guys! This is Levitt, and he is here to help.”</p>
<p>	“What can we do to save Clarke?” Raven asks immediately. “What are they going to do to her?”</p>
<p>	“They are most likely taking her to MCap to look through her memories. The Shepherd, or Cadogan as you know him, believes Clarke has the key to transcendence.”</p>
<p>	“We know this already, but she doesn’t have the Flame anymore. It’s dead and gone.”</p>
<p>	“Does he know she doesn’t have it?”</p>
<p>	“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“That’s bad. That’s very bad,” says Levitt.</p>
<p>	“Why?” Octavia asks. </p>
<p>	“If there is nothing in her head anymore, then the Shepherd will keep digging until he finds what he needs. He may find some answers, but what he really needs is most likely on that chip. If he goes too deep, he could permanently damage her brain or even kill her.”</p>
<p>	“Do you know what happened to Bellamy?” Echo asks Levitt. “There is no way he would betray us like this.”</p>
<p>	“The Shepherd can be very persuasive.” Echo shakes her head. Bellamy is the strongest man she knows. He wouldn’t have done this voluntarily. </p>
<p>	“We need to go save Clarke,” Octavia says. “Hope and Gabriel, get ready to escort us around. Levitt, take one of our weapons and help them.”</p>
<p>	“This may work if we pass by civilians, but if someone important sees us, we will be caught. There needs to be at least one disciple for every prisoner.”</p>
<p>	“I guess we are winging it, but we aren’t staying here.” Octavia leads the way out the door but pushes Levitt in front of her to guide the group. They keep their heads down when people go by and stay quiet so no one unexpected hears them. </p>
<p>	They are about to round the corner when Levitt says, “Ok, down this left hall is MCap. Do we have a better plan to get Clarke?” Echo is about to reply, but Levitt sees Disciples coming towards them from the opposite direction of MCap, so he points behind them and says quickly, “In there!”</p>
<p>	Everyone does as he says and rushes into the dark room. Levitt’s ear presses to the door so he knows when they can go back out. Luckily, the disciples were coming from a direction that they couldn’t see anybody but Levitt, and it’s not unusual for him to be there. The disciples’ voices get louder as they pass by, but they don’t stop or come in. </p>
<p>	“Ok, we are good to leave,” he tells the group, but Raven is distracted. She is staring at a huge metal tank that says H2S on the front in big, bold yellow font.</p>
<p>	“Woah, that is a lot of hydrogen sulfide,” she says. “Why do you have that much?”</p>
<p>	“I’m not sure. Why is it so interesting?” </p>
<p>	“Hydrogen sulfide has different uses, but it can be extremely dangerous. If it leaks in a high enough concentration, it’s odorless and very deadly. The only reason I can think of having this much of a supply is to make heavy water to power nuclear research.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know anything about it,” Levitt says. </p>
<p>	“I don’t know who designed this place, but it was a very bad idea to put it next to an air vent. Like I said, should it leak or get in the air, it could kill.” Raven follows the pipes of the tank, but they end up going through the wall and to god knows where. </p>
<p>	“How would someone release it if it is attached to all these thick pipes?” Hope asks.</p>
<p>“There is a release valve on the end. It comes with the tank since anything could be put inside. If something were to happen and they needed to let out some pressure, they would release a little of it and it would be fixed.”</p>
<p>	“Interesting.” Hope pushes that thought to the back of her mind, but she won’t forget it. </p>
<p>Eventually, everyone but Levitt starts looking around. “We should really go,” he tells them, but no one listens. He looks around for Octavia. It doesn’t take long to find her wiggling the knob of a hidden door. “What are you doing?”</p>
<p>	“It’s locked. I’m trying to get in.”</p>
<p>	“It’s probably locked for a reason. Come one, let’s go get Clarke and get you all out.”</p>
<p>	“After I see what’s in here. I have a bad feeling about it. Why would this door be locked and hidden in this otherwise regular electrical room? Why lock this specific door and not the door that leads to the dangerous, deadly gas?”</p>
<p>	“I don’t know, but we need to go!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>	“Hope! Does that uniform come with any gadgets to open this door?”</p>
<p>	“I already told you I don’t know how to run this thing,” she says. </p>
<p>	“Miller come here. You and me on three. One, two, three!” They slam their bodies against the door. “One, two, three!” Again, they ram against it, but the metal doesn’t budge. <br/>They try over and over again, and just when they are about to give up, the lock comes loose. They kick a few times until it busts and the door creaks open. “Thanks, Miller.”</p>
<p>	“Here to help.”</p>
<p>	Everyone walks in and once again they are surrounded by blinding white walls. “Don’t these people know any different colors?” Niylah comments.  </p>
<p>	They walk around the decent sized room, but there isn’t much to look at. There is a large screen against the wall, a chair that reminds Octavia of the one in MCap, and a computer in the corner to the left of the door. “Levitt, what is this place?”</p>
<p>	“I’ve never seen this before.” He slowly gazes around the new room, mainly focusing on the computer, with a confused expression. He tries to go find the files on the computer, but he only sees one: a video. “Hey, guys, come here.”</p>
<p>	“What is it?” Octavia asks. Everyone gathers around behind Levitt. Gabriel is the last to arrive because he is across the room looking at a small drug cabinet. He takes a vial of something and joins the group. </p>
<p>	“There is only one video to open on this whole computer. There isn’t even a connection to the rest of the servers on Bardo, so whatever it is, it’s meant to never be found.”</p>
<p>“Play it,” Gabriel says with furrowed brows, the gears in his head clearly turning. Levitt brings up the video, but instead of playing on the small screen, it booms onto the large one on the wall. It’s loud, but Levitt suspects the room is soundproof given the secretiveness of it. </p>
<p>The seven of them watch in silence as the video plays. Old pictures of wars are shown while Cadogan voices over how bad it was back on earth. He explains transcendence and how it will be achieved. He also describes how he was the human population’s savior by creating the Second Dawn. Raven and Octavia roll their eyes. When it’s over, they all stare at the blank screen. </p>
<p>“Is this supposed to make people become a disciple?” Raven asks. “I mean, it’s not really that compelling.”</p>
<p>“It’s very compelling when matched with this stuff,” Gabriel tells them and holds up the vial he took from the cabinet. </p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” Levitt has an idea of what he means, but he doesn’t want to believe it. </p>
<p>“That whole cabinet is filled with this drug. It’s called scopolamine, and it drastically increases a person’s suggestibility. I believe that Bellamy was brought here and forced to watch that video after getting injected with this. It would explain why he is suddenly on Cadogan’s side.”</p>
<p>“If it’s the drug that changed him, won’t it wear off?” Miller asks.</p>
<p>“The problem is it’s not the drug that changed his beliefs. All the scopolamine did was make him docile, compliant, and open to suggestion. They drugged him to put him in that state and then forced him to watch the video.”</p>
<p>“So what you’re saying is my brother was brainwashed.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Octavia, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”</p>
<p>Echo sighs with relief. “I knew he wouldn’t have betrayed us like this.”</p>
<p>They all join in the feeling, but Levitt breaks away from the group. He sits in the computer chair and rests his head in his hands. Octavia walks over to him and kneels down in front of him. She takes one of his hands, partly for comfort and partly to make him look at her. “Are you alright?”</p>
<p>“No. I can’t believe my entire life is a lie. I grew up believing in the Shepherd and what he can do for us. He was supposed to be our leader, not our dictator.”</p>
<p>“I know what you mean. It’s not all a lie, by the way, Levitt. I’m not a lie.”</p>
<p>He smirks and kisses her forehead. “No, I guess you’re not.”</p>
<p>“Let’s go back to them and figure out what to do next.” Levitt and Octavia return to the group hand in hand. </p>
<p>“I still don’t know how everyone in this place is faithful,” Raven says. “They can’t drug everyone.”</p>
<p>Gabriel answers, “My guess is Cadogan has at least one person who knows the truth. If any more, it’s a very small and airtight group. Other than that, they only had to brainwash the people in the beginning. Then as time went on, it got taught in schools and passed down to the children. But, when someone would start having their own beliefs or thought something was wrong, that’s when they would be brought here to get put under Cadogan’s control again.”</p>
<p>“So what do we do now?” Niylah asks.</p>
<p>“We need to save Clarke,” says Raven. </p>
<p>Hope and Gabriel pause, listening to something on their earpieces. “We need to get back to the cell,” Gabriel tells them. </p>
<p>“We are so close; we can’t just leave!”</p>
<p>“They are coming for shift change right now and if we aren’t there, they will go straight to Cadogan. We have to go!” Gabriel pushes them all out the door and they get back into the cell just as the new disciples come to take Hope and Gabriel’s spots.</p>
<p>When the replacements approach Gabriel and Hope, a tall, skinny guy says, “Well we’re here. You can go now.”</p>
<p>“If you guys want the night off, we can take your shift,” Gabriel proposes. “We don’t mind.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I see. You two want the high-profile prisoners, and you don’t want anyone else to get in your way. It could get you in with the Shepherd.”</p>
<p>“Damn, you caught us.” Despite the nerves, Gabriel puts on an excellent show.</p>
<p>“Forget it. We are going to guard this door, so beat it,” says the shorter, more muscular one.</p>
<p>“Fine, fine, I get it. We’ll be on our way then.” Gabriel starts walking and jerks his head for Hope to follow. </p>
<p>When they are far enough away, she asks him, “What are we doing?”</p>
<p>“Just follow my lead.” Then he stops abruptly, turns around, and heads back to the replacement disciples. “I have an idea. What if we guard on the inside of the cell while you two are out here? That way if anything goes wrong in there, we can handle it, but it will look like nothing happened if they never get outside.”</p>
<p>They look at each other for a second before the tall one says, “Alright, but if anyone asks, you left after your shift was over.”</p>
<p>“Deal,” both Hope and Gabriel say. They finally step into the cell so they can all figure out what to do next.</p>
<h1> MURPHY, EMORI </h1>
<p>Murphy and Emori are exhausted. There is still no end to the fighting in Sanctum and they are running out of ideas to keep the peace. Once the Primes faithful stopped attacking people, the grounders started causing trouble. They want to take over part of the city for themselves, but the Sanctumites fight back because it’s their home. Other times it’s the Eligius crew ganging up on the faithful to make fun of their religion that they so recently had to dismiss. It seems never ending.</p>
<p>“We need to do something about these people,” Emori tells everyone while sitting at the kitchen table. Murphy made breakfast for the whole house, which includes Emori, him, Madi, Jackson, Jordan, Gaia, and Indra. </p>
<p>	“I know, but we can’t possibly stop every single little argument,” Murphy says. “By the time we do, we are out of energy to stop the bigger ones. Any ideas?”</p>
<p>	“The kids at school talk about how their parents won’t let them go anywhere because they are afraid something is going to happen to them,” Madi says. </p>
<p>	After taking a bite of his eggs, Jackson tells them, “People are constantly coming through the doors of the hospital with some sort of injury. Most are minor, some are major, but all could be avoided with peace.”</p>
<p>	“Maybe we should leave, all of us and the grounders and Eligius, and get Sanctum back in the hands of the people who have lived here for two centuries,” Jordan says.</p>
<p>	“Yeah, great idea.” Jackson.</p>
<p>“We have nowhere else to go.” Emori.</p>
<p>“I like it here.” Madi.</p>
<p>Back and forth, back and forth. All that is getting accomplished is arguing with each other. Murphy can’t take it anymore. He slams his fork down on the table and shouts, “Guys!” When everyone looks at him with wide eyes and feels Emori’s hand on his arm, he relaxes and says, “I’m sorry, but we have to figure something out. We aren’t leaving.”</p>
<p>	“Didn’t you have some sort of government on the Ark?” Emori asks him calmly.</p>
<p>	“We did, but everyone hated them. Myself included.”</p>
<p>	“Hey,” Jackson says, slightly annoyed. “Abby was on the Council.”</p>
<p>	“I know, I’m sorry, I wasn’t necessarily talking about her. The group as a whole is what I meant. Those seven people made all the choices for the whole Ark population without input from anyone else.” Murphy scratches his head before turning to Indra. “What about you? You were second to Lexa when she created the Coalition, and Ice Nation was the only clan that didn’t agree with that leadership.”</p>
<p>	“I suppose the Coalition worked well,” she says. </p>
<p>“How did it work?”</p>
<p>“There was one representative from each clan that came to Polis when there was any matter to be discussed. Whatever was decided got passed from the representative to the clan leaders, which then eventually made it to the villages. What do you propose we do, Murphy?”</p>
<p>“Why don’t we start our own Coalition? Just… not call it that.” Murphy looks at everybody in turn. They all seem to be considering the idea, and when his eyes meet Emori’s, he can feel the pride radiate from her. </p>
<p>“I think that could work,” says Indra. “How do we make it happen?” </p>
<p>“Does that microphone on the palace balcony still work?”</p>
<p>“If not, I can make it work,” Jordan says. </p>
<p>“Good, then Emori and I will make an announcement using that and address everyone tonight. They may all know we aren’t Primes, but we have been the de facto leaders since <br/>Clarke and everyone else left. Hopefully they will listen to us.”</p>
<p>“And if they don’t?” Gaia asks.</p>
<p>“Then we come up with another plan, but we can’t just do nothing.”</p>
<p>“Ok, let’s do this.”</p>
<p>Over the next few hours, Indra teaches Murphy and Emori all about the Coalition and how the hierarchy was designed. They are making the new Sanctum government based on it, and they need to be prepared for any questions. Jackson goes back to the hospital and spreads the word about the announcement through his patients. Madi does the same by meeting with all her friends from school and asking them to tell their parents. Gaia was tasked with informing Wonkru and Eligius. Soon enough, the ground beneath the balcony is full of people.</p>
<p>“Thank you for coming this afternoon,” Emori addresses into the microphone. “We know things have been difficult the past few days, so we are here to propose a new leadership.”</p>
<p>“Back on Earth, there was a government that worked to keep all parties at peace.” Murphy explains now. “There were twelve of them, and each had a leader. These leaders would then meet in the capitol to decide what to do whenever a problem arose.”</p>
<p>“You’re talking about the Coalition!” someone yells from the crowd. He knew it wouldn’t take long for the grounders to recognize their old way of life. </p>
<p>“Yes, we are. We propose to model a new government here on Sanctum based on the Coalition.”</p>
<p>“We don’t need grounder laws!” an Eligius member shouts.</p>
<p>“Yeah! Why are we reinstating their leadership and not ours!” Someone from Sanctum. The murmurs rise into loud discussions which turn into shouting to the person a couple feet away.</p>
<p>“Nothing is official yet!” Emori says forcefully into the microphone, and everyone looks back up to them. “We just want to make things better, and this could be that solution! Please, let John explain.”</p>
<p>When nobody says anything, Murphy continues. “We believe each faction deserves an equal voice. Therefore, we propose that each group, someone from Sanctum, from Wonkru, from Eligius, and from us, have representatives to address any issues that come up.”</p>
<p>“I think this is a wonderful idea!” A Sanctum man makes his way to the front of the crowd. He has reddish brown hair, a goatee of the same color, and strange black markings on his face. People make a path for him, but no one looks like they know him. “Each group should hold elections to vote for their representative. I, for one, would love to be in the running!”</p>
<p>“What about Russell Prime? Could he be our representative?” Murphy and Emori look at each other in their peripherals, but Emori answers.</p>
<p>“If he agrees, then it shouldn’t be a problem.” The mind drives are essentially non-existent anymore, and the faithful know that he was nothing but a fraud. It is surprising they want him back in a leadership role, but if it’s their way to cope with the loss of their faith, then Murphy and Emori will have to make it work. </p>
<p>Then the chants start. “Rus-sell! Rus-sell! Rus-sell!” Most of Sanctum’s people are rooting for him, but there are still a few that don’t want him back. </p>
<p>The strange man starts to look annoyed, but quickly puts a smile on his face and says, “I will gladly run against Russell for this grand opportunity.” Then he fades back into the crowd.</p>
<p>“It’s settled,” Emori says, her voice echoing through the speakers. “Meet with your people and choose a representative.” </p>
<p>Once everyone is gone and the microphone is turned off, Murphy takes Emori’s hand and asks, “Do you really think this will work?”</p>
<p>“It has to. If it doesn’t, I don’t know how these people will unite and make a decent society.”</p>
<p>Murphy chuckles. "What do we know about decent societies?"</p>
<p>"Enough to know we can't keep going without doing something."</p>
<p>The two of them watch as the factions make their separate ways. Murphy eyes the strange man from Sanctum as he starts talking to anyone within arm’s reach. Making his case for the leadership role, no doubt. Murphy has never seen him. He dresses like everyone else, but those marks on his face strike a nerve in Murphy. Something isn’t right about him, and if he is elected as Sanctum’s representative, he has a feeling this plan is going to go downhill fast.</p>
<h1> BELLAMY, CLARKE </h1>
<p>“Where are you taking me?” Clarke asks Bellamy as he walks one step in front of her. She already knows, but she wants to hear him say it. She wants to hear him tell her that she is going to be tortured for the memories that may be in her head.</p>
<p>	“We are going to MCap. The Shepherd needs to examine your memories.”</p>
<p>	“His name is Cadogan, and he is no shepherd.”</p>
<p>Suddenly, Clarke’s feet are kicked out from under her, and she is face down on the ground. “The Shepherd is our savior, and you will not disrespect him!” One of the disciples shouts at her. He presses her face against the tile until Bellamy tells him to get her up, and they walk again.</p>
<p>“Wow, I can’t believe you stopped them.”</p>
<p>“I still care about you, Clarke! Why can’t you understand that? Why don’t you get that I am doing this for all of us!”</p>
<p>	“Because it’s impossible!” Clarke fidgets in the disciples’ grips to gauge how she could take them down, but they are both incredibly strong. “You would <em>never</em> betray your friends like this. You would never betray <em>me.</em>”</p>
<p>	“I’m sorry, I—”</p>
<p>	“There it is again! You’re <em> sorry </em>,” she spits.</p>
<p>“What do you want me to say?!”</p>
<p>	“I want you to say you’re with me! I want to know I haven’t lost you!” She needs to know that the man she loves isn’t truly gone.</p>
<p>	“We’re here,” the disciple that pushed her to the ground says. They stand in front of a big door that is, unsurprisingly, very white. Bellamy opens it, and the disciples on her arms guide her to the chair. Clarke looks around and sees Cadogan standing in the corner. </p>
<p>	She is about to be forced into the chair, but she shouts, “Wait! Let me talk to Bellamy.” The disciples look to their leader, and he nods. When he is alone with her, she asks, “Is this really what you want?”</p>
<p>	“Of course it’s not what I want, but I don’t have a choice. The Shepherd needs this information.”</p>
<p>	“No, he doesn’t.”</p>
<p>	“If he is going to save us all, he does.”</p>
<p>	“I’m not giving any of my memories away.”</p>
<p>	“Clarke, don’t fight it,” he begs and takes a step closer. There are only a couple feet between them now, and if they were in a different situation, Clarke would bask in the intimacy of it. “It could kill you.”</p>
<p>	She sighs, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, but her voice low and tired when she says, “Then you better be ready to see me take my last breath, because that will happen before I help any of these people.”</p>
<p>	“No, it doesn’t have to be like this,” he says, a tear of his own marking his cheek.</p>
<p>	“Yes, it does.” Clarke slides into the chair on her own and waits for the disciples to strap her down. She stares straight ahead so she doesn’t see Bellamy dry his face before joining Cadogan across the room. Her heart beats faster when the pointed piece of the machine is aimed at her forehead, but she doesn’t show her panic. She will not give them the satisfaction of her fear. </p>
<p>The disciple running the MCap starts asking her questions and giving her instructions. Instead of doing what he says, she fills her head with other thoughts. She recites little songs she sang to Madi when she was growing up, or memories that have nothing to do with the Flame. </p>
<p>	After what seems like an hour later, but in reality was only five minutes, a combination of a burning and pounding starts in Clarke’s head. They have been digging, and she has been fighting it constantly. It’s taking a toll on her. </p>
<p>Through the concentration to keep them away from her memories, she barely hears Bellamy’s voice. “Sir, she doesn’t have the memories. We can’t push her too far.”</p>
<p>“She has them, she is just fighting it,” says Cadogan.</p>
<p>The pain in her head finally becomes unbearable. She screams out but still manages not to give in to them. She screams and screams and screams, tears cascading down her face. </p>
<p>Over in the corner, Bellamy says, “Please, sir! We’re killing her, and if that happens, we will never get what we need!”</p>
<p>“Do you have a different plan, Disciple Blake?”</p>
<p>“We go to Sanctum and she shows us where she hid the Flame. It may be salvageable with the technology on this planet. We still need her.”</p>
<p>“Fine.” Cadogan turns to the other disciples. “Disconnect her and walk her back to a new cell of her own.” When Clarke is taken off the machine, she slumps in the seat, floating in and out of consciousness. Sweat soaks her hair and forehead, and a trickle of blood leaks from her nose.</p>
<p>“She can’t walk, my Shepherd,” Bellamy says. “Let me take her back.”</p>
<p>“Do I need to remind you of how selfish it can be to put one person above everyone else?”</p>
<p>“No, sir. I am just making sure she is taken care of enough to get us what we need.” What he doesn’t say is he can’t bear the sight of Clarke, the strongest woman he has ever known, being dragged down the halls in this state, especially when he is to blame for it.</p>
<p>Cadogan looks between him and Clarke, but eventually nods his head and leaves with the other disciples. Bellamy stands next to Clarke in the chair. He moves a strand of her wavy blonde hair from her cheek that was stuck there from sweat. </p>
<p>“Let’s go, Clarke. You need rest.” He braces one arm under her knees while the other supports her back and gently lifts her. Her head falls into the crook of his neck as if it belongs there. If there weren’t cameras everywhere, or the fact that the Shepherd would be severely disappointed in him, he would press his lips to her temple to let her know how much he still cares about her. The side of the war he chooses will never change that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hopefully with my changing work schedule I will be able to write more often and not keep everyone waiting so long. Also, if anyone ever has questions or comments, I live getting things in my inbox on tumblr! ( bellarkegriffin-blake ) Thank you for sticking with me through my long updates!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Episode 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things escalate as Cadogan pushes farther, and Hope gets to her breaking point. Murphy, Emori and the others on Sanctum take a step in the right direction for peace but suspicions grow deeper as the strange man gains popularity.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE, OCTAVIA</h1>
<p>Planning is going to be harder with real disciples outside their cell, but not impossible. The group huddles in the furthest corner of the room and speaks very quietly, barely above a whisper.</p>
<p>	“What are we going to do now?” Raven is sitting on the ground, leaning her head back against the wall. One elbow rests on a raised knee while her injured leg lays down flat. She massages a spot under her brace as if it hurts. </p>
<p>	“Are you alright?” Gabriel asks, always the doctor.</p>
<p>	“I’m fine, but we need to do something.” She gets up, wincing from pain.  </p>
<p>	“If we leave, those guards will alert everyone that we are running. Our covers as disciples will be gone, and Levitt will be known as a traitor.”</p>
<p>	Hope says, “They can’t keep getting away with taking the people we love!”</p>
<p>	“Calm down,” Echo tells her. “We need to wait and come up with a plan.”</p>
<p>	“I’m done waiting! They took my mother, and Octavia, and now they are taking your friends!” Hope opens the cell door and drags the two guards in by their collars. She tears off their helmets and smashes them on the ground hard enough to crack. They start swinging at her but neither have the skill she does. It only takes her a couple minutes to knock them out and tie them together with the sheet from the cot. </p>
<p>	“What the hell was that!” Gabriel shouts. “They are going warn their people once they wake up!”</p>
<p>	“I told you, they don’t get to sit back and watch our families get destroyed.” Then she takes off. </p>
<p>	“She is going to get lost again and eventually caught.”</p>
<p>	Suddenly, Octavia’s eyes widen. “No, she knows exactly where she is going.” She sprints after Hope, leaving everyone else a couple seconds behind, but it only takes that long to understand.</p>
<p>	“The gas…” Raven says what they are all realizing. Gabriel and Echo run after the other women, and Miller and Niylah start to, but they stop when they see Raven limping. “Go ahead, I can find the way.”</p>
<p>	“We aren’t leaving you,” Miller tells her while putting her arm over his shoulder. Niylah does the same, and they all quickly walk out of the cell. There are no disciples in this hallway, but all they can do is hope they don’t get caught as they make their way to their friends. </p>
<p>	Hope is fast, and Octavia has a hard time keeping up. She isn’t sure what miracle has kept all the disciples out of their path, but she is grateful once she enters the room because she got there just in time. Hope hasn’t found the valve that releases the gas.</p>
<p>	“Don’t do it, Hope.”</p>
<p>	“They deserve it!” She screams as she frantically looks for the valve.</p>
<p>	“No, Cadogan and his disciples might deserve it, but there are innocents on this planet. I’ve been here before, back in Mount Weather. We killed everyone to stop the bad people. It broke Bellamy and Clarke. It broke all of us.” </p>
<p>	Gabriel and Echo enter the room and close the door behind them. </p>
<p>	“Then leave. Get everyone else out so I don’t hurt you guys,” Hope says, ignoring their entrance.</p>
<p>	“You aren’t going to just hurt everyone; you are going to kill them. And yourself, I will add.”</p>
<p>	Hope hastily wipes away a tear from her cheek as she sees the release valve and rests her hand on it. “I don’t care! They took my mom, my auntie O, Dev, my childhood! Someone has to pay!”</p>
<p>	“And they will! But committing mass murder is not the way to do it!”</p>
<p>“Isn’t this what <em>Blodreina</em> would have done? Sacrificed anything to get what she wants? Kill the enemy before they kill us?”</p>
<p>“<em>Hope!</em>” Echo exclaims disapprovingly. </p>
<p>“Yes, this exactly what I would have done back then. But don’t you remember how that story ended? I ruined everyone and killed so many. Blodreina is <em>not</em> a role model you should have.”</p>
<p>Gabriel shouts, “Hope, this is crazy!”</p>
<p>	“JUST GO AND LET ME AVENGE MY LOSSES!” Tear cascade down her cheeks now, but she doesn’t wipe them away this time. “I have restrained myself since we’ve gotten here. I have waited for a plan to save everyone, but nothing is working, so I’m taking matters into my own hands. If I have to die to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone ever again, then so be it.”</p>
<p>	“I’m not letting you kill yourself,” Echo walks towards her, but as she gets closer, Hope tightens her grip around the release valve. </p>
<p>	“I don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t leave, I will have no choice.” Her voice is weak, but her will isn’t. When no one moves, her shoulders slump. She tries to turn the valve, but it’s old, rusty, and hard to turn. Octavia opens her mouth to say something and attempt to change Hope’s mind, but someone else opens the door. </p>
<p>	They all expect to see Raven, Miller, and Niylah, but it’s a disciple. “Get your hand off that valve.”<br/>Echo attacks first. She throws a punch to their face, but it is quickly deflected. Echo’s arm is twisted behind her back, and then she is shoved across the room. Her head knocks on a thick pipe against the wall. She isn’t knocked out but a little dizzy. Gabriel tries next but is also tossed around like a ragdoll. Whoever this disciple is has training beyond what Orlando taught them on Skyring.</p>
<p>Octavia handles the disciple a little longer than the previous two. She fights as if she has fought this person before. Eventually, though, the disciple throws Octavia to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. They make their way to Hope. Instead of trying to fight, she tries to turn the valve again, but it doesn’t budge. In that moment of distraction, the disciple forces Hope’s arms behind her and puts her in a chokehold but doesn’t press against her throat. </p>
<p>Instead, the disciple leans in right beside Hope’s ear and whispers, “You don’t think I’d let you kill all these people, do you little one?”</p>
<h1>BELLAMY, CLARKE, RAVEN</h1>
<p>Clarke wakes up in a sea of pain. Her whole body aches, but the worst is in her head. The slightest movement makes her brain melt and sends electricity through her limbs. She wants nothing more than to lay here until the pain goes away, but she has to find her friends. Clarke bears sitting up, but once she is there, she has to take a moment to breathe. </p>
<p>	“Hey, lay back down,” a deep voice says from the corner. Was he there the entire time she was out?</p>
<p>	“Bellamy, what are you doing here?”</p>
<p>	“I knew you would try and fight your way out despite how badly you’re hurt, so I convinced them to let me stay here and watch you.”</p>
<p>	“Well, you should have stayed outside. I don’t need you watching me.” Clarke briefly looks away as soon as the words leave her mouth. She doesn’t see him dry his face, and he doesn’t see the anguish that is ten times worse than any physical pain she is currently in. “How can you do this to us? To me?”</p>
<p>	“I’m doing what’s best for all of us! If we want to transcend with the Shepherd, he needs our help!”</p>
<p>	“Do you even know what that means? Did Cadogan explain it to you more than the rest of us? How do you know he doesn’t mean to kill us all? Or maybe he wants to create a world where only those who believe in him are worth saving? Hell, Bellamy, this ‘transcendence’ feels exactly like the City of Light, and you moved heaven and earth to stop ALIE!”</p>
<p>	“This isn’t like ALIE or the City of Light.”</p>
<p>“How not?”</p>
<p>“The City of Light made you a bag of pixels in a computer chip. You didn’t have any choice, and you didn’t get to live a normal life. The Shepherd wouldn’t do that!”</p>
<p>	“HOW DO YOU KNOW?!” Clarke stands up as she yells at Bellamy which makes her vision blur and balance falter. She falls, but Bellamy’s arms wrap around her before she hits the ground. Looking at him this closely, she can’t tell he is on the opposite side as her. His freckles dot his cheeks just like they always have, his messy curls hang over his forehead just like those always have, and she falls into a trance through the darkness of his eyes just like she always has. He sets her back down on her cot and kneels in front of her. It’s not until she sees him in his disciple uniform again that reminds her that something is wrong.</p>
<p>	“You need to calm down. The pain will go away soon, but you can’t push yourself. Actually,” Bellamy picks up a glass of water from beside her cot and reaches into the pocket of his white shirt, “Take these pills and you will feel much better.”</p>
<p>	“No way. I’m not taking anything from these people.”</p>
<p>	“Clarke, please. I hate seeing you like this.”</p>
<p>	“I wonder if you hate being the cause of it even more.” Clarke’s eyes burn from holding back tears, but this time she doesn’t look away. Bellamy does, though, and looks to the ground between her feet for a moment. His face contorts into one of emotional agony before swiping the back of his hand over each cheek and returning his gaze to hers. </p>
<p>	“I didn’t realize how much I would lose by doing what I think is right.”</p>
<p>Suddenly, Clarke slaps him across the face. It takes all her energy once again. “I followed you here so <em>I</em> wouldn’t lose <em>you</em>!” Then, after seeing his hurt expression, she places her hands on either side of his face and continues, “And even though it looks like I already have lost you, I’m not giving up on you.” </p>
<p>“I don’t understand…”</p>
<p>“Bellamy, something isn’t right. This is something you never would have done in your right mind. I know you can’t see it, but the rest of us can. You pulled me from the deepest pit of my own mind and then breathed life back into my lungs when I died. I will be <em>damned </em>if I give up on you without doing everything in my power to fix it.” Then Clarke does something she has only imagined doing. She leans forward and rests her forehead against his. She whispers, “The head and the heart can’t be on different sides.”</p>
<p>“Clarke…” he sighs. “I wish you would just trust me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And I wish you could see what is happening in front of you. I am going to get you back whether you think there is something to come back from or not.”</p>
<p>A disciple opens the cell door and motions for Bellamy to go talk to him. Clarke can’t hear anything being said, but whatever the message is, it’s short. Bellamy dismisses the disciple and carefully pulls Clarke to her feet and hands her the pills again.</p>
<p>“It’s time to go to Sanctum. Take these and the pain will be gone in a minute or so. I promise that’s all they are.”</p>
<p>Against every fiber of her being, she silently takes the pills. If she is going to be useful, she has to be able to stand upright. He is right, it only takes a couple minutes for the pain to be completely gone. Clarke walks out of the cell, one guard in front, one behind, and Bellamy beside her. She doesn’t say anything, and neither does he, the entire walk to the stone room. </p>
<p>Clarke was planning to fight once they got to the anomaly. She was going to get a hand on one of the disciple’s weapons and take out as many as she could before finding her friends and escaping. But everything changes when they enter the room and she sees Raven, Miller, and Niylah standing by the stone.</p>
<p>“Clarke!” Raven calls out. “Are you alright?”</p>
<p>“I’m fine for now. What are you guys doing here?”</p>
<p>“They escaped their cell,” Bellamy says. “The others, too, but they haven’t been found yet.”</p>
<p>“Good,” Raven spits. Bellamy doesn’t look at her, but Clarke can tell he is hurting.</p>
<p>“Well this is fun,” Cadogan says, seemingly materializing from the corner, “But we have work to do, and a little business to take care of. Bellamy has assured me that you can show us where you buried the Key to bring back here and analyze.”</p>
<p>“I am not going to help you take control of these innocent people.”</p>
<p>“Who said anything about control? I want us to transcend.” Raven, Miller, and Niylah all look at each other as if they know something but shouldn’t say it. </p>
<p>“Open the Bridge,” Cadogan commands. “I am going to send your friends through first. A sort of insurance.” Then Miller and Niylah are pushed through the green mist without warning.</p>
<p>“Why would you do that and give them a chance to inform the others?” Clarke questions, stopping them before Raven gets sent.</p>
<p>“Because he didn’t send them to Sanctum.” Raven stares at the lit symbols on the stone. “I don’t know where they are, but it isn’t home.”</p>
<p>“I’m impressed. Not very many people with your lack of experience can read the stone so easily.” Cadogan does look as impressed as he sounds. “We could use you on our team.”</p>
<p>“Never going to happen.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t think so. Anyways, Clarke, she is right. Your friends are not on Sanctum, but I will not tell you where we sent them. Once I have the information I desire from the Key, we will retrieve them safely.”</p>
<p>Clarke, realizing she doesn’t have a choice if she wants to get Miller and Niylah back from god knows where, says, “Fine, I will lead you to where I hid it, but on one condition.”</p>
<p>“Name it.”</p>
<p>“Raven comes with us.”</p>
<p>“Deal. Let’s get going.” Clarke can tell how anxious Cadogan is getting by being this close to retrieving the Flame. They are running out of time to divert his plans, though. He is always one step ahead of them, and Clarke is getting worried. It doesn’t help that Bellamy feeds him any information he wants. She and Raven watch as the stone conductor taps each symbol. When the green mist opens again, she looks to Raven. Raven confirms that it’s the code for Sanctum with a subtle nod.</p>
<p>When the command is given, five disciples walk through the anomaly, then two more guide Raven and Clarke into it, and finally, Bellamy and Cadogan step through.</p>
<h1>MURPHY, EMORI </h1>
<p>There are only a few hours until the representatives are chosen, and so far, the plan is working. Muprhy and Emori haven’t had to intervene in anyone’s conflicts. Everyone is so busy campaigning and choosing who they want to lead them that they haven’t had time to fight. It’s given the two of them some quality time together that they haven’t had for a while.</p>
<p>	They lie in bed, and Emori kisses him before saying, “We need to go check on Russell.”</p>
<p>	“Ugh, why do we need to worry about him? All he wants is to die.”</p>
<p>	“We aren’t going to kill him.”</p>
<p>	“But we don’t have to help him either.”</p>
<p>	“John, we haven’t done anything for him except feed him. We aren’t exactly doing much.”</p>
<p>	“He is likely going to be elected as Sanctum’s representative, so he is either going to go back into Prime mode and undo everything we have done, or he will be a leader with an underlying wish for revenge against us. Neither is good.”</p>
<p>	“We will deal with whatever happens, but we still need to go check on him.”</p>
<p>	“Fine. Right now?”</p>
<p>	“Right now.” Emori slides out of bed, puts her clothes on and tells him, “Be in the kitchen in five minutes. He grunts at her and pushes the side of his face back into his pillow. </p>
<p>	Murphy meets Emori downstairs on time, and ten minutes later, they stand outside Russell’s door. It smells like rotting food. All they’ve done is give him food, but apparently he doesn’t eat it. </p>
<p>	“Ready for this?” she asks. </p>
<p>	“All I’m doing is opening the door, seeing he is alive, then closing it again.” Murphy doesn’t wait for Emori to say anything else. He unlocks the door, swings it open, but he doesn’t see what he expected. There, on the floor, lies Russell surrounded in blood that came from jagged gashes on each wrist. “How did he cut himself? We cleared this room of anything that he could hurt himself with.”</p>
<p>	“Look at the food tray.”</p>
<p>	“Oh my god…” Murphy leans over the empty plastic tray, the food discarded over the floor. “He broke it into jagged pieces.”</p>
<p>	“At least we don’t have to worry about him being the representative.”</p>
<p>	“That’s true, and he got what he wanted. I just don’t know how I feel about the other guy, the one with the weird face markings, that might win. Doesn’t he seem a bit off to you?”</p>
<p>	“I have a weird face marking.”</p>
<p>	Murphy kisses her cheek. “Yours isn’t weird, its hot. Sexy.”</p>
<p>	“Good answer, but yes that guy does seem odd. We can’t worry about that right now, though. We need to get Jackson up here and then tell the public what happened.”</p>
<p>	“Ok, let’s go get him.” Murphy and Emori lock the door behind them again and go to the hospital to find their friend. It doesn’t take long for the three of them to get back to Russell’s body. </p>
<p>	Jackson circles Russell a couple times, looking at his hands and wrists while carefully avoiding the spilled blood staining the floor. “This is bad, but what am I supposed to do about it?”</p>
<p>	“We need help getting his body out. I’m sure these people will have a death ritual. Peopole always do,” Murphy says.</p>
<p>	“I can get a body bag. What I’m concerned with is how you are going to deal with the murderer right before everyone votes for their representative.”</p>
<p>	Murphy and Emori look at each other before she asks, “What do you mean murderer? He didn’t do this to himself?”</p>
<p>	“No, look at his fingers. All the broken pieces of the tray have jagged, sharp edges. If he did his to himself, his fingers would have cuts on them, too. Someone tried to make this look like a suicide, but it definitely wasn’t.”</p>
<p>	“Nobody even knows he was being kept here. How did they find out?”</p>
<p>	Murphy scrunches his brow and thinks back to when they delivered his food last. He swore he heard someone following them, but he never saw a thing. They had been so careful that he couldn’t believe someone was there. “I think it has something to do with the new guy. He clearly wanted the seat, but when everyone started chanting for Russell, he made it so he couldn’t lose.”</p>
<p>	“What are we going to do?” Emori asks. “We can’t let him roam around Sanctum killing whoever he needs to kill.”</p>
<p>	“That’s true, but we can’t accuse him outright, either. If he is chosen and we accuse just to be wrong, people may think we are trying to rig the votes. What if we don’t tell anyone he is dead? Then we could watch the new guy and see how he reacts.”</p>
<p>	“Everyone that wants Russell as the Sanctum representative will still vote for him, so what good would that do?” says Jackson.</p>
<p>	“Jackson’s got a point, John. Whether the people find out he is dead before or after the election doesn’t matter. It’s likely the new guy will win without Russell in his way.”</p>
<p>	“It’s very likely. All I’ve heard in the hospital since we announced the new representative system is that if Russell was gone with all the other Primes, they would be voting for the other guy. The election starts soon. I think we should tell them right away to avoid a revote.”</p>
<p>	 “I agree,” Murphy says, “But I think we should say it was a suicide. If we are right, then this guy isn’t looking to go on a killing spree. He killed Russell to get him out of his way. We shouldn’t worry anyone until it’s time to worry.”</p>
<p>	“I am going to go get a body bag. You two should go make the announcement.”</p>
<p>	“Sounds like a plan.” Murphy and Emori leave Jackson to do his thing. When the two get to the balcony and turn on the microphone, they find a lot of people already there waiting for the voting to start. </p>
<p>	“Hello, everyone. We are glad you are all here. We have some bad news, unfortunately. Today, Emori and I found your previous leader, Russell Lightborne, dead in a room of the palace. If anyone was planning on voting for him as your representative, you will have to choose someone else.”</p>
<p>	“What happened?” someone yells up at them. </p>
<p>	“Suicide.” Murphy doesn’t give any more information than that. “There are three lines to vote in. They aren’t specific to each faction, but I have a feeling that’s what you people will do anyways, so go ahead and write who you choose for which group on the paper and toss it in the containers.”</p>
<p>	Emori says, “In an hour, we will count the votes and announce who won each seat. Please begin.” It amazes her every time they speak to the public. She isn’t sure why they all follow her and Murphy’s lead, but it would be chaos if they didn’t. This is hopefully their last hurdle. It should give everyone the voice they desire while also taking a weight off their shoulders. Unfortunately, with the murder of Russell, Emori is afraid something much deeper is going on.</p>
<p>	Murphy and Emori never leave the balcony. The lines are calm, and everything seems to be going smoothly. He begins to wonder if the speakers for that microphone are <br/>wired all through Sanctum because it looks like there are a lot more people than when they started. </p>
<p>	After the hour, people stop coming, and the two of them collect the bowls holding the votes. It takes two more hours to look through each paper and record each vote. Madi, Jackson, Gaia, and Indra all help, so that makes it a little easier. They split into pairs: Madi and Jackson, Gaia and Indra, and Murphy and Emori. Each takes a bowl and, after each is emptied and counted, they write down the new representatives. Murphy can’t say he is surprised by any of them. </p>
<p>	“The votes are in,” Emori announces. “We would like to congratulate these three people on their victory. After they are announced, they are to report to the dining room of the palace to begin our first meeting.”</p>
<p>	“From Eligius: Nikki.” A bunch of cheering and applause. “From Wonkru: Indra.” She receives shouts, yells, and chanting. “And from Sanctum…” Murphy looks throughout the crowd. He can tell some people are upset they couldn’t have Russell leading them again, but most everyone else don’t seem to care. The tension builds, but eventually Murphy reads from his paper, “From Sanctum: Steve Doucette.”</p>
<p>	Murphy and Emori watch carefully. The strange man, Doucette, waves at his people and thanks them. In this moment, he looks harmless. He looks like a regular person who won the favor of the crowd. But Murphy and Emori know better. This man had the most motive to kill Russell right now. He is dangerous, but they can’t warn anyone yet. This meeting will be very interesting.</p>
<h1> ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE, OCTAVIA </h1>
<p>Hope stops moving, stops breathing. There is only one other person besides Octavia that calls her that. She wriggles out of the disciple’s now loose grip. With tears in Hope’s eyes, she slowly walks back up to the disciple, testing the waters. When nothing happens, she lifts the helmet off the disciple and gasps. </p>
<p>“Mommy!” Hope exclaims and wraps her arms around Charmaine Diyoza’s shoulders. Behind them, Octavia, Echo, and Gabriel get to their feet, awe clearly etched into their faces. Hope cries into her mother’s neck, letting all the years of pain and suffering melt away. “They took you! I thought you were dead!”</p>
<p>“I have spent every moment trying to get back to you.” Then she pulls away and looks towards Octavia. “To both of you.”</p>
<p>“Diyoza, where have you been?” Octavia asks her. </p>
<p>“Surviving. Trying to get back to my family. What else would I have been doing? And by the looks of my daughter, Gabriel, and Echo, you all had the same idea I had. I’ve been posing as a disciple since being taken. They took me to that room to brainwash me, but I was trained a long time ago how to get around it.”</p>
<p>“Well, my brother wasn’t. They have Bellamy under their influence and now they have Clarke. They need her memories to achieve ‘transcendence’, but I have a feeling there is more to it. All that video convinced me of was Cadogan is a power-hungry jackass.”</p>
<p>“Trust me, I know all about his idea of transcendence, and I think you’re right. If he has everyone believing in and working towards this idea of a better life, no one will be out of line and no one will question him. He will be Bardo’s leader for as long as he lives, and who knows how long that will be with the technology they have here.”</p>
<p>“If transcendence isn’t real, what does Cadogan need with Clarke and her memories?”</p>
<p>“I think he needs information to create something that will keep him in power. Someone as smart as him knows he can’t expect everyone to blindly follow him forever. I’m sure there are people here already that are against him but don’t have the means to do anything about it.”</p>
<p>“We need to take him down,” says Echo.</p>
<p>“What happened to the others?” Gabriel asks. </p>
<p>“On my way here, I saw them being escorted by other disciples towards the stone room. Raven looked like her leg was hurting.”</p>
<p>Octavia starts pacing in the small electrical room. “They probably tried running after us, but if Raven couldn’t, I have no doubt Miller and Niylah stayed behind to help. Did they break Clarke? Did they get what they needed and gather somewhere? There is no way it was just luck that no one saw us.”</p>
<p>Instead of answering, Gabriel, Hope, and Diyoza’s eyes go blank as they listen to their earpieces. Echo and Octavia wait for the message to be over, and when it is, the three of them look confused. Diyoza tells them, “Cadogan is taking Raven, Bellamy and Clarke back to Sanctum.”</p>
<p>“Why?” asks Echo. </p>
<p>“The Flame.” Octavia says. “They must be looking for it even though Raven fried it.”</p>
<p>“With the technology here, I wouldn’t put it past their abilities to bring it back,” Gabriel points out. “We have to go back to Sanctum. Maybe we can stop them on our own turf.”</p>
<p>“Home field advantage, I like it,” Diyoza says with a smirk. </p>
<p>“We have to wait until all the disciples surrounding the stone room are gone. I bet that’s why we got here so easily; they were all there watching and guarding as Cadogan prepared to leave Bardo.”</p>
<p>“Where have you been, mom?” Hope has been quiet since Diyoza revealed herself. “I assume we have time until the stone room clears, so I want to know.”</p>
<p>Diyoza wraps her daughter in her arms once again. “I missed you so much, little one. When Octavia and I got taken we were separated. I had heard she escaped, but I didn’t know how. I had to wait and strategize my way out. I found that the only way to do that was to become one of them. I told Cadogan I would become a disciple, that he would be lucky to have me with my military background.”</p>
<p>“So he just trusted you to adopt all his beliefs?” Hope pulls back to look her mother in the eyes. “He let you be a disciple no questions asked?”</p>
<p>“Not exactly. He took me into that room over there, injected me with something, and played a video to brainwash me.”</p>
<p>“How did you get out without it working?” Echo asks. </p>
<p>“I was trained in the art of brainwashing. I know how to detect when it’s happening and escape it. I also know that to completely fool Cadogan, I had to act like it worked. I spewed all these things about him being our savior, transcendence is the key, and basically anything that made bile rise up in my throat.”</p>
<p>“Did it work?”</p>
<p>“I think so, for the most part. Although, I’ve never been allowed to patrol alone or be alone long enough to explore this place myself. Today was the first time I could get away to find you.”</p>
<p>“I missed you so much, mom.”</p>
<p>“I’ve missed you, too.” Hope and Diyoza hug. Eventually, Diyoza extends an arm towards Octavia, and she joins in. They look like the family they created ten years ago. Just by looking at this image, no one would have guessed Diyoza and Octavia were the two serpents in the garden all those years ago.</p>
<p>Gabriel and Echo look at each other briefly before Gabriel clears his throat. “I’m sorry to break up the reunion, but the stone room should be clear, and we shouldn’t wait too long to follow them to Sanctum.”</p>
<p>The three women break away from each other. Octavia says to Echo, “Diyoza, Hope, and Gabriel will have to guide you and me to the stone room, but we have to go back to the cell. I need to know if Levitt is still there.”</p>
<p>“We aren’t going back there,” Echo says. “We have to trust that he made it out safely.”</p>
<p>“We can’t just abandon him!”</p>
<p>“We aren’t abandoning him! He is smart, and this is his home. He will know what to do, and if he doesn’t right away, he will figure it out.”</p>
<p>Octavia calms down and reluctantly nods. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p>Gabriel, Hope, and Diyoza put their helmets on and makes sure they look like disciples again. Diyoza takes the lead while Gabriel has the rear. Hope grabs one elbow from both Echo and Octavia, and they all walk in diamond formation down the hall. </p>
<p>Disciples are more dispersed among the halls again but having three guiding the two is enough to not raise any questions. They also seem to know Diyoza as the fake disciple she is, so they don’t question her. Just as they arrive to the stone room, a familiar face appears. They walk into the now empty room and he follows. </p>
<p>Octavia runs into Levitt’s arms once they know no one can see them. “What happened after we ran off?”</p>
<p>“Raven, Miller, and Niylah tried to follow, but Raven’s leg was hurting.” Levitt explains. “Miller and Niylah were helping her, but a group of disciples found them as they left. I got out before anyone saw. They got taken to the Bridge, but the announcement said only Raven is going with Bellamy, Clarke, the Shepherd and other disciples, so he must have sent Miller and Niylah somewhere else.”</p>
<p>“Where?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure, but hopefully somewhere habitable.”</p>
<p>“We are going to Sanctum now to try and stop Cadogan and get Bellamy back. I don’t know how, but we have to try.” Octavia turns towards the stone as Gabriel circles it.</p>
<p>“I’m coming with you,” he says, and Octavia turns back to him. </p>
<p>“No, you’re not. If Cadogan sees you on Sanctum, then you’re cover is blown.”</p>
<p>“I’ll take my chances! I don’t want to leave you.”</p>
<p>“You will see me again.” Octavia’s eyes soften and she takes his hand. Behind them, the anomaly opens and turns the entire room green. At least it’s a different color than white. She reaches up and presses her lips against his cheek. </p>
<p>“Auntie O, we have to go,” Hope says before walking through the moving mist.</p>
<p>Octavia backs away from Levitt, her eyes never leaving his until it’s time to jump through the anomaly. She is the last one, and she knows she doesn’t have much time before it closes. She is about to take the first step through, but something stops her. </p>
<p>Octavia suddenly turns around and runs into Levitt’s arms, and before she loses her nerve, she kisses him. His soft lips part hers, and his hand presses her against his body by the small of her back. She slides her fingers in his black hair. Fire explodes through her body, but she doesn’t have time to continue. She pulls back and presses her forehead against his. </p>
<p>“Stay here but lay low. Don’t be a hero.” She pecks him on the lips as a goodbye and runs through the anomaly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I love comments and constructive criticism! I am so thankful that you are all reading this, and I hope it's still a suitable replacement for season 7!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Episode 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Everyone's stories come together as the fight against Cadogan continues and someone lost returns.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So sorry for the wait, but hopefully it was worth it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>MURPHY, EMORI </h1>
<p>“Welcome to the first council meeting,” Emori greets. Nikki, Indra, Doucette, Murphy and herself sit around a small table in the dining room. “The ultimate goal is to become one group and eventually dissolve this council.”</p>
<p>	“That is an excellent goal,” Doucette says. Murphy wonders how he even got elected. He doesn’t look or act like anyone from Sanctum, so how did he gain everyone’s trust in such short time? And why is he sucking up to Emori?</p>
<p>	“Is there anything that should be discussed right away?” Emori asks the group.</p>
<p>	“Yeah,” Nikki grunts. “I want everyone to stay out of our way. If it wasn’t for that batshit crazy girl and her cult, we would still be on Earth!” 	</p>
<p>	“I think you mean if it wasn’t for McCreary and his hunger for power, then we would be there. But you should know that since you had no problem following his orders,” Indra retaliates. </p>
<p>	“I’m a good soldier and took orders from my superior, grounder. I didn’t drink the kool-aid.”</p>
<p>	“Enough!” Murphy shouts. “This isn’t going to get us anywhere.”</p>
<p>	Nikki and Indra’s body lose a little tension, but they are both noticeably ready to strike if they have to. </p>
<p>	“So, what do you propose?” asks Nikki. “That we all live in the trees like you did on Earth? Well, I, and all my people, enjoy the luxuries of city living after being asleep for so long. We aren’t ready to give that up.”</p>
<p>	“We don’t know these woods well enough to live outside the safety of the radiation shield. We just want to live somewhere and finally be safe.”</p>
<p>Emori has been quiet so far, but now she speaks up. “What if you started living in different sections of the city. You are basically doing it now but have real living spaces instead of huddled into groups. We all know there is enough room for everyone, but people have been too stubborn to say anything.”</p>
<p>“And then eventually, hopefully, people can move as they please and we become an integrated society,” Murphy adds as he catches on. “Everyone will be equal citizens no matter what has happened in the past.”</p>
<p>	“And if something happens that requires punishment?” Indra inquires.</p>
<p>	“Then we all meet and discuss what should be done. Fairly.”</p>
<p>	“Doucette, since you are the Sanctum representative, and you know your people,” says Emori and turns to face him, “do you think they will be willing to cooperate with this new plan?”</p>
<p>	He doesn’t say anything, but he stands and circles the table. Finally, after a moment, he stops and tells them, “I think we need to look for a different solution.”</p>
<p>	“What do you mean?” Murphy asks with suspicion. There is an ulterior motive somewhere, he just has to find it.</p>
<p>	“You have all been so worried about getting along with each other. And how do you do that? By trusting one another?” Doucette scoffs. “No, I don’t believe you will be able to do that for a long time.”</p>
<p>	“Again, what do you mean?”</p>
<p>	“We need to trust someone higher than us. The Shepherd will guide us onto the right path. He makes you understand what is important, and it’s not your relationships with other people. If we follow the Shepherd’s path, we will transcend, and all of this will be immaterial.”</p>
<p>	Murphy looks to Emori, and his mind spins. This has got to be it. After all their time on Sanctum, through Josephine and the Primes, there has never been any mention of a Shepherd. Indra and Nikki make eye contact as well. Nikki looks like she is going to kill Doucette on the spot, and Indra just looks tired. </p>
<p>	“Explain how this works,” Murphy says, going with the flow. The group looks skeptical, but when Doucette looks around the room, Murphy subtly winks at them. </p>
<p>	“It’s easy,” the man starts. “You believe in the Shepherd, and he delivers us to transcendence. We live without war or pain, and everyone gets to be happy.”</p>
<p>	“That’s not happening. It’s bad enough we had to deal with the Primes, I’m not taking down another religious group,” Nikki spits.</p>
<p>	“There is nothing to defeat. The Shepherd is real, and he will save all of us.”</p>
<p>	“Say we want to join you and your Shepherd,” Murphy says. “What will we have to do?”</p>
<p>	Emori quickly whispers in his ear, “What are you doing?”</p>
<p>	“Just trust me.”</p>
<p>	“You don’t need to do anything except trust in the Shepherd and vow to work with us towards transcendence. You would give your whole self to the population and leave behind your inner circles I have observed. There would be no more ‘your people’ because everyone would be your people.”</p>
<p>	Indra says with a low voice, almost threatening, “So you want us to all drop this council, convince everyone in Sanctum that the Shepherd is the one to follow, and abandon everything we have worked towards for peace? I don’t see that happening unless you become very persuasive very quickly.”</p>
<p>	“It will happen, and no matter how defiant you are at first, you will see the good that the Shepherd does, and you will believe in his work.” The weird thing is Doucette doesn’t sound irritated or angry that they are blatantly rejecting his beliefs. He expected at least a little backlash in questioning this Shepherd.</p>
<p>	“Well, if you worked so hard to win Sanctum’s votes it was in vain, because nobody is going to believe in—” Murphy gets cut off by a shift in the night sky. It looks like the radiation shield went down, and there is only one reason he can knows that would happen. Him and Emori step over to the window, and the rest follow. Coming from the shield is Clarke, Raven, and others he doesn’t know.</p>
<p>	“Well, it looks like the Shepherd got Clarke Griffin and a friend.”</p>
<p>	“How do you know Clarke?” Emori asks Doucette.</p>
<p>	“She is the key to everything. She will unlock transcendence.”</p>
<p>	“We need to go talk to Clarke,” Murphy tells everyone. He looks out again at the group of white walking towards Sanctum. As they get closer, Murphy recognizes one more face. </p>
<p>	“Oh my god,” Emori gasps. “Is that Bellamy?”</p>
<p>	“Yes, it is. Looks like he is playing the role of inside man once again.” Of course he would put himself on the line like that. It’s practically all he knows. “We need to get down there and figure out what’s happening.” He turns to the others and says, “Tie Doucette up and make sure he can’t get out. Then, Indra, you go tell the grounders and the rest of Sanctum to be prepared. Nikki, you do the same with your people.”</p>
<p>	“What exactly are we preparing for?” Nikki asks after removing any weapon from Doucette and tying him up tightly with ropes from the curtains.</p>
<p>	“It looks like seven guards in black uniforms, Clarke, Raven, Bellamy, and an old guy. The men in black are armed, so tell them to be ready to fight,” Murphy instructs. Oddly, Nikki and Indra shake hands before leaving the dining hall. Emori looks at him and he shrugs his shoulders. “Hey, this first meeting may have been a success after all.”</p>
<p>	“Let’s go see what this is all about,” Emori laughs with a peck on her boyfriend’s cheek.</p>
<p>	Just as they are about to leave, Doucette says, “You’ve got this all wrong. Nobody is going to get hurt.”</p>
<p>	Muprhy takes a cloth napkin from the table, shoves it in his mouth and tells him, “Sorry, but we don’t exactly trust you.” After Doucette is silenced, Murphy and Emori leave to greet their friends and figure out what to do next.</p>
<h1>BELLAMY, CLARKE, RAVEN</h1>
<p>Bellamy emerges through the Bridge with Cadogan and finds himself in familiar territory but at night. Nothing has changed about Gabriel’s camp besides the three dead disciples outside of the tent. </p>
<p>	“This explains how it took so long for me to know you and your friends were on Bardo,” Cadogan says. “Oh well, they died for the cause. Clarke, lead us to the Key.” Cadogan extends his arm out to inform her she is leading the group. She does, and Raven sticks to her side. Bellamy hangs back with Cadogan a few feet from the girls.</p>
<p>	“When she gives us the Key, we will all be rewarded, Disciple Blake. Even your friends who have yet to see our ways.”</p>
<p>	“I hate being on opposite sides of them,” Bellamy admits. </p>
<p>	“You will be together again, don’t worry.”</p>
<p>Clarke leads the group up to the radiation shield. She walks through it, turns around and says, “This way, Cadogan. And bring your disciples.”</p>
<p>	He takes a step to follow, but Bellamy holds him back. “Don’t, my Shepherd. The radiation shield will kill you. The blood alteration that is required to use the Key keeps it from hurting her.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t appreciate tricks, Clarke. Don’t do it again,” Cadogan commands.</p>
<p>	She doesn’t say anything, only nods towards Raven to lift the shield. Raven puts the passcode in, the sky shifts for a millisecond, and everyone crosses the barrier. Once they are all in Sanctum, Raven steps out and waits for the shield to fall again. </p>
<p>	“What’s your plan?” Raven asks Clarke when she joins her at the front again. </p>
<p>	“I don’t know, but I think I have to give him the Flame.”</p>
<p>	“That can’t happen. Who knows what he will do with that code?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, but Bellamy will figure out a way to please Cadogan one way or another. I don’t know what happened to him on Bardo, but it changed him.”</p>
<p>“I know exactly what happened. He is being brainwashed.” Raven takes a couple minutes and quickly summarizes what they all found in that secret room. She explains what Gabriel told them about the scopolamine and how Cadogan uses it to get the disciples to obey him when they start displaying signs of having their own thoughts.</p>
<p>	“That explains everything. I just hope he can snap out of it, and soon,” Clarke says. </p>
<p>	“Gabriel said since the drug only made him susceptible to the ideas he was fed that it could be hard to reverse. He also thinks Cadogan is power hungry and wants everyone to follow him, but we don’t know any other reason than that.”</p>
<p>	Bellamy watches Clarke and Raven ahead of him. They are talking quiet enough that he can’t hear them, but he is afraid they are making a new plan to divert the Shepherd, and he won’t let that happen. Bellamy joins the girls in the lead, and they stop talking as soon as he arrives. </p>
<p>	“Whatever you are planning, stop,” he tells them, keeping his eyes forward as they walk.</p>
<p>	“What does it matter to you?” Raven spits. Even though she knows the situation he is in, it still hurts to see him like this.</p>
<p>	“How many times do I have to tell you I still care about all of you. You’re my family!”</p>
<p>	“We aren’t planning anything, Bellamy,” Clarke says in a monotone. “I just want this all to end, and if that means giving him what he wants to take it back to his own planet, so be it.”</p>
<p>	Bellamy doesn’t quite believe them, but he doesn’t have the energy to argue with them anymore. When they all transcend, his family will all understand that everything he has done was for the greater good. Clarke will forgive him in the end; he just has to get through the pain until that happens.</p>
<p>Bellamy is about to rejoin the Shepherd as they arrive at the outer edge of the city, but two figures walking towards the group stops everyone. Murphy and Emori look both happy and surprised to see them. </p>
<p>	“We’re so glad you are back!” Emori sighs with relief and hugs Raven and Clarke. When she is in close to their ears, she whispers, “So what’s the plan?” Raven and Clarke pull back and look at each other. Then they quietly explain to her what has happened with Bellamy and everything else as best they can.</p>
<p>	Murphy goes straight to Bellamy while chuckling and says, “You look ridiculous. Just saying, if I were the inside man and I had to wear that,” Murphy looks his friend up and down, “well, we wouldn’t have an inside man.”</p>
<p>	“I’m not an inside man, Murphy.”</p>
<p>	“Right, you keep your cover with that old guy watching you.” Murphy looks at Cadogan and it doesn’t take long for him to recognize who it is. “No way…”</p>
<p>	“Yes, it’s him, and he is going to save us all.” Without giving Murphy a chance to retort, Bellamy walks back to Cadogan to discuss their next steps. </p>
<p>	Murphy furrows his brows and joins the girls’ huddle. “Wow, Bellamy is taking this very seriously.”</p>
<p>	“He’s not an inside man, John, he wasn’t lying. He was brainwashed and now he is with Cadogan.” Emori lets Clarke and Raven explain again, even more brief than the first time. </p>
<p>	“So, you think he can come out of it?” Murphy asks when they are done filling him in.</p>
<p>	“I don’t know,” Clarke admits, but she believes there has to be a way. Even if there isn’t, she’s not going to rest until they have exhausted every single plan to get him back. It’s what he would do for any of them; what he has already done for her.</p>
<p>	“We have news too,” Emori says. “While you were gone, the fighting between factions here was nonstop. We successfully got the faithful to stop believing in the Primes, but Wonkru and Eligius were still picking fights with everyone.”</p>
<p>	“So we all, us, Indra, Gaia, Jackson, and Madi, came up with the idea of a council. One person from each group to represent their people,” Murphy adds. </p>
<p>	“Like the grounder government, smart.” Raven seems genuinely impressed.</p>
<p>	“Madi has been hanging out with the kids of the city to see if they discuss anything they hear at home. Jackson listens around at the hospital, which he barely ever leaves. We aren’t really sure what Gaia and Indra do all day, but we assume they monitor Wonkru and try to keep the peace throughout Sanctum.” Emori’s report on what everyone’s been up to lifts Clarke’s spirit. Murphy and Emori really took charge while they were gone.</p>
<p>	“Anyways,” Murphy says, “we were actually having our first meeting when we noticed you coming. The Sanctum rep is very odd, though. He has weird black markings on his face, and he kept talking about a Shepherd. I don’t know where this guy was getting information, but I have never heard of anything like it around here.”</p>
<p>Clarke and Raven sigh in unison. Of course there is someone here to spread news of the Shepherd. Clarke explains, “Cadogan is the Shepherd. He has all his disciples brainwashed into believing he is the savior of all mankind when all he really wants is power and control.”</p>
<p>	“And now Bellamy is one of these disciples?” Emori asks.</p>
<p>	“Yeah. He believes Cadogan will deliver transcendence to us all and save us. He thinks what he is doing is right and that we will all understand once we transcend.” Clarke watches Bellamy now, standing two feet from the enemy. She tries to will him to understand what he is doing is wrong. All she wants is to go up to him and shake him out of it. There has to be some way to get him back. She needs him.</p>
<p>	The entire group starts walking towards Sanctum again. Clarke could tell that Cadogan was getting impatient with their reunion. Disciples flank each side with one in the back, when suddenly an alarm rings throughout the city. “What’s going on?” Murphy asks.<br/>Cadogan looks at Clarke and says, “If this is another one of your tricks, shut it down. I’m getting the Key whether you like it or not.”</p>
<p>	“I didn’t do this. I haven’t left, and no one knew we were coming.”</p>
<p>	“Just take me to the Key!” Clarke has never heard the man yell. It’s nice to know he has a breaking point. She will have to keep that in mind. She listens closer now and realizes what the loud sounds means. It’s the Red Sun warning, but it can’t be an eclipse. She doesn’t know what’s happening, but she gets an idea. </p>
<p>	“It’s the toxin,” she says. “A psychoactive toxin that is released by the plants making you do unimaginable things.” </p>
<p>	“That only happens during the solar eclipse, Clarke,” Bellamy points out, which she knew he would.</p>
<p>	“It’s night, there is no eclipse,” Cadogan says. </p>
<p>	“Sometimes the plants release enough to make the alarms sound even if there isn’t an eclipse.”</p>
<p>	“It’s true,” Raven says. “I read about it when I was researching this place. If there is enough toxin in the air to make the warnings go off, then there is enough to affect your mind.” Clarke is glad she joined in. </p>
<p>They have to get Bellamy and Cadogan separated, and after looking around, she has just the idea. Clarke points over her shoulder at a small shed. “We will lock you up in there and your disciples can guard you. We will go and get some anti-toxin from the palace and bring it back to you. We don’t have long. Look, the townspeople are already running for their caves.”</p>
<p>“The people here were telling us the same thing when we were Primes,” Emori says.</p>
<p>	“Disciple Blake, are they telling the truth?”</p>
<p>“I’m not sure, my Shepherd. I don’t have as much understanding of Sanctum as Raven, or the trust of the population like Murphy and Emori, so I think we should trust them.”</p>
<p>	Cadogan looks dubious, but he agrees and says, “Fine, let’s go in the shed and the others will stand guard.”</p>
<p>	“No, you have to go alone,” Clarke tells him. “If the toxin gets to you before we can get you the anti-toxin, you two can’t be in the same room. There is another shed we can put Bellamy in down the street.”</p>
<p>	“How long will this delay our retrieval of the Key?”</p>
<p>	“It shouldn’t be long, sir,” Bellamy says. “The last eclipse I experienced was less than twenty minutes.”</p>
<p>	“Clarke, take Bellamy to the shed and get the anti-toxin. One of my disciples will be with you, so don’t try anything.”</p>
<p>	“I will go monitor the toxin from the control room,” Raven inputs before running off to wherever the control room is, but Clarke isn’t sure if that is actually what she is doing or if it’s a chance to get away.</p>
<p>	Clarke nods and heads towards the shed. Emori, Murphy, and Bellamy follow, along with the disciple and his weapon. Phase one of their surprise plan is complete, but once Bellamy realizes they are lying about the toxin, he will run to Cadogan. Now it’s time to come up with Phase two, and quickly.</p>
<h1>ECHO, GABRIEL, HOPE, OCTAVIA, DIYOZA</h1>
<p>The first thought Gabriel has when they all step out of the anomaly is that it’s nice to be home again. Then the weight of their task returns to his shoulders. They need to <br/>save Clarke and the others. Stopping Cadogan would be a bonus. Everybody walks up into the tent to make a plan.</p>
<p>	“We had to have gone through just after they did, so they can’t be too far ahead of us,” Octavia says. “We can probably catch up to them.”</p>
<p>	“But we can’t give ourselves away. Cadogan doesn’t know we are here. Last he knew we were locked up and being guarded.” Gabriel tells them. </p>
<p>	“Fine, but what do we do?”</p>
<p>	“We do catch up, but only to watch and wait. They are going to have to get through the radiation shield, but because it’s night, there is a slight shift you can see in the sky when it’s lifted. If we go after they are already through, they won’t miss it. Especially since all the disciples are trained to notice the small details like that.”</p>
<p>	Echo asks, “Why don’t we just kill them all as they walk to Sanctum? Clarke, Raven, and Bellamy are saved.”</p>
<p>	“If we kill Cadogan, Bardo will figure it out. If that happens, a much bigger war will be fought.”</p>
<p>	“We need to get going. We have no idea how far ahead they are,” Diyoza points out.</p>
<p>“Mom is right. We don’t have time to come up with a different plan right now. We can come up with something else as soon as we are across the shield.”</p>
<p>When they all agree, the five of them silently make their way to the outer edges of Sanctum. Gabriel leads them, of course, being the only one that could navigate these trees with his eyes shut. It makes Octavia miss Earth. Back home, it would be her leading the way. It was her that could run for hours through her trees and never get lost.</p>
<p>By the time they reach the shield, they are out of breath. They ran as fast as they could to make sure they arrived at the same time as Cadogan and the others. Luckily, there are some bushes to hide behind until the shield is down. The hardest part will be running through a little open area until they reach the fields that will cover them once again. </p>
<p>Octavia watches as Clarke walks straight through the radiation before turning around and saying something. They are too far away to hear anything. “What is Clarke doing?” she asks quietly. Cadogan starts to walk forward, but Bellamy stops him.</p>
<p>“She had the same thought Echo did,” Diyoza says with an amused smirk. “She was going to let Cadogan walk straight through and die of the radiation.”</p>
<p>“We have to get my brother back. With him and Clark understanding each other so much, it will be nearly impossible to do anything without Bellamy knowing.” </p>
<p>A pang goes through Echo’s chest at her statement, but it’s something nobody can deny. Those two have always been like that. Hope is the only other person Echo knows as well as Bellamy knows Clarke, and that’s because they spent five years together with Gabriel doing nothing but eat, train, sleep, repeat. She is Echo’s best friend.</p>
<p>“Look!” Hope whisper-shouts and raises her eyes to the night sky as it changes for a millisecond. “It’s down, let’s go.”</p>
<p>The group times their entrance into Sanctum perfectly, and they are all in before the shield is down again. Since Hope, Gabriel, and Diyoza have the disciple uniforms, they run on the right side of Octavia and Echo putting a barrier of black between them and the disciples, making them less noticeable before they reach the field’s cover. </p>
<p>Once they are all hidden, crouching in a circle within a row of the field, Echo asks, “So, does anyone have a plan?”</p>
<p>“What if we get everyone out of Sanctum?” Hope suggests. </p>
<p>“Cadogan isn’t here to hurt anyone, though,” says Diyoza. “There isn’t a point in removing citizens if there is no real threat.”</p>
<p>“We could intercept them before they reach the Flame. I know where Clarke buried it,” Echo informs them. </p>
<p>“And do what?” Octavia sighs. “We can’t give it to him.”</p>
<p>“Four of us were trained as disciples, we could take them down.”</p>
<p>“We already established that we can’t hurt or kill them.”</p>
<p>“Gabriel, you’ve been quiet,” Hope points out. “Do you have anything to contribute?”</p>
<p>Gabriel’s brows are knit together, and he scratches his cheek. “I have a thought, but it could be dangerous and possibly end very badly.”</p>
<p>“What is it?” Diyoza asks, clearly not bothered by danger.</p>
<p>“What if we released the toxin? Everyone in Sanctum knows what to do when the alarms go off. They will be confused because it doesn’t happen at night, but they were all trained that if the alarms sound, you run for the caves.”</p>
<p>Octavia nods in agreement. “So, the innocent will be safe. But what about those not from Sanctum? Wonkru is here and so is Eligius. They don’t know about the caves.”</p>
<p>“That’s true.”</p>
<p>“Hope, Diyoza, and I can go around and tell them what to do.”</p>
<p>“I’m confused,” Hope says. “Why don’t we just sound the alarms and not use any toxin? Wouldn’t that mean everyone is safe no matter what?”</p>
<p>“I thought that too,” Gabriel acknowledges. “But then I figured we could use it against Cadogan and the disciples. It could disorient them enough to subdue them and figure out exactly what he wants with the computer chip.”</p>
<p>“I think we’ve got our plan. Now it’s time to move because Clarke is almost to the edge of the city.” Diyoza points over her shoulder and everyone looks. They are stopped, and when Octavia looks closer, it’s because Murphy and Emori are approaching them. They must have seen the group coming.</p>
<p>Gabriel pulls their attention back to him. “We need to make a stop at the palace to get anti-toxin for us and the others. Then I will go to the control room to set off the toxin warning and release it into the air.”</p>
<p>“Won’t the green mist coming from the palace be obvious?” Echo wonders. </p>
<p>“There are some plants from the woods that secrete the toxin safely stored in the lab. I can extract it from them, and it will be completely invisible to the naked eye. It won’t take long, but I will need a lot more anti-toxin than the rest of you.”</p>
<p>“Ok, let’s get going,” Octavia says. </p>
<p>They run towards Sanctum, and once they arrive at the palace, Gabriel leads them straight to the lab to get the anti-toxin. Each person inhales a dose and puts extras in their pockets for others. </p>
<p>Echo takes more extras than the others. “I am going to Bellamy, so I will take our friends theirs.”</p>
<p>“The control room is one floor above us. I’m going to start the warning and then release the toxin. Go, get your people out.”</p>
<p>Everyone runs their separate ways, and it’snot long before Gabriel has the alarm going. Hordes of people going the opposite direction. Hope and Diyoza run towards where the Eligius crew are staying. The only reason they can find the group is because the part of the city looks like it’s been ransacked. Octavia starts going towards Wonkru but stops. </p>
<p>“Echo, come with me.”</p>
<p>“No, I have to get to Bellamy!”</p>
<p>“We have to give them time to understand what is happening. If we run in as soon as the alarm goes off, it might tip Cadogan off.”</p>
<p>Echo grunts in frustration. “Why do I need to go with you? You led them for six years.”</p>
<p>“I may need help. I don’t know how much they trust me anymore, and I haven’t had the time or opportunity to make them again.”</p>
<p>“Indra should be with them; she can get them to.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but she doesn’t have the knowledge you do about what’s happening. Please?”</p>
<p>“Fine, let’s go.” The girls make their way to Wonkru, and Echo was right. Indra is already there. </p>
<p>“Now is the time to fight back!” Indra yells at her people. “We have invaders, and we need to protect ourselves and everyone in Sanctum!”</p>
<p>“Indra, stop!” Octavia shouts. </p>
<p>Indra turns around and is surprised. “Octavia?” </p>
<p>A member of Wonkru walks up to her and spits at her feet. “What do you want, <em>Blodreina?</em>”</p>
<p>“I’m here to help. We need to get everyone out of here and down into the caves they use during the eclipse.”</p>
<p>“And why would we do anything you say?” the same man says.</p>
<p>Octavia is about to say something, but Echo interrupts. “We don’t have time for this. Octavia is telling you the truth. The people out there want the Flame, and we don’t want to give it to him. He brainwashes people to stay in control, and he may come back to do it to you.”</p>
<p>“I’ll go kill him. Problem solved.” The man holds up his bow and arrows to emphasize his intentions.</p>
<p>Echo shakes her head and takes them from him. It does feel nice to have her weapon of choice back in her hands. “No, we’ve already put a plan in motion. Just go into the caves and wait until this is over. We have it under control.” </p>
<p>Echo leaves Octavia and Indra behind to make them listen. She has to get to Bellamy. On her way to them, she sees someone climbing the steps of the palace. Wasn’t everyone supposed to go to the caves? She runs to the girl, and it is clear she is getting affected by the toxin. As she gets closer, though, she recognizes who it is.</p>
<p>“Raven!” Echo takes the steps two at time to get to her. She just got to the top and is leaning heavily on the railing. Raven looks at her, but Echo can tell she is confused. </p>
<p>“Echo? Are you really here? Is this the toxin? I didn’t think it was actually in the air.”</p>
<p>“Shh, just take this.” Echo presses the anti-toxin to Raven’ mouth and she breathes in. After a moment, her eyes clear up, and she can stand upright again. </p>
<p>“What’s happening? What are you doing here?” Raven asks while giving her a hug.</p>
<p>“We are saving you! Gabriel is setting off the alarm and releasing the toxin, Hope and Diyoza are getting Eligius to hide in the caves, and Octavia is doing the same with the grounders. I am taking the anti-toxin doses to Clarke and the others.”</p>
<p>“I’m going to go to the control room to see if Gabriel needs help.”</p>
<p>“Yes, go. I’ve got this covered.” Raven nods and enters the palace. Echo is about to descend the stairs, but two figures walking her way stops her. Clarke is coming, probably to get anti-toxin, and a disciple is behind her with a weapon pointed at her back. They are about to come up the steps, and they both look like the toxin is getting to them as well. Echo wasn’t aware how fast this spread.</p>
<p>She suddenly remembers the bow and arrows she snatched from the grounder. Echo drops to one knee and peers through the posts of the railing. It’s awkward, but she has made decent shots in worse positions. She pulls an arrow back, aims, and lets it fly.</p>
<h1>BELLAMY, CLARKE, MURPHY, EMORI, ECHO</h1>
<p>“Are you really locking me in an empty shed until the toxin is gone?” Bellamy asks his friends.</p>
<p>	“We wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t switched sides and abandoned us,” Murphy spits at him.</p>
<p>	“I didn’t abandon you, Murphy. I’m <em>doing</em> this for all of you.”</p>
<p>	“Whatever, man. Just get in,” he says as he holds the shed door open. Bellamy enters, and Murphy locks him in the small building. “Emori and I will stay here to make sure he stays put.</p>
<p>	“I will go get the anti-toxin from the palace,” Clarke says to keep their cover with the disciple behind them. As they get closer to the palace, her sight starts getting fuzzy. She starts looking around, and she swear she sees her mom walk into another building. Clarke goes to follow, but the disciple jabs the barrel of the gun into her back.</p>
<p>	“No tricks, remember?” His voice seems off, too. Is there actually toxin in the air? What is going on? She can tell by the sound of his footsteps that the disciple is getting affected too. “Where am I? What am I doing here? I have a family back home, why would I be here instead?”</p>
<p>	“You’re following the Shepherd’s orders,” Clarke tells him. She doesn’t know why, but it just comes out.</p>
<p>	“Why does he matter more than my family?” </p>
<p>Clarke doesn’t answer this time. She leads the disciple up to the palace steps, but before he can even lift his foot to the first one, something whistles past her. She looks behind her and finds an arrow sticking out of the disciple’s eye socket. He falls to the ground dead. </p>
<p>	There is only one person she knows that is that skilled with a bow and arrow. Clarke looks up to the balcony and sees Echo running down to her with stuff in her hands. Well, maybe it’s Echo. She isn’t sure of anything right now with the toxin in her system. </p>
<p>	“Hey, Clarke.” When she doesn’t respond, Echo pushes the anti-toxin to her mouth just as she did with Raven. When Clarke becomes focused again, Echo says, “I have more for the others.”</p>
<p>	“Did you give any to Madi? Or our other friends?”</p>
<p>	“They should all be down in the caves safe with everyone else. They are most likely very confused, but I believe they knew enough to follow.”</p>
<p>	“Do you have enough for Cadogan and the other disciples?”</p>
<p>	“I guess for Cadogan, but we weren’t planning on giving him any.”</p>
<p>	“We have to,” Clarke tells her. “He thinks I’m getting it for them, and if I don’t come back with any, I have no idea what he will do.”</p>
<p>	“Our plan was to subdue him and make him tell us what he wanted from the Flame.”</p>
<p>	“If he didn’t have such a huge network of people who would do anything for him, I’d say that’s a good plan. But if anything happens to him, we will have hell to pay. Let’s go give our friends the anti-toxin, and then I will take one to Cadogan and say there wasn’t enough for everyone.”</p>
<p>	“Fine, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”</p>
<p>	Clarke and Echo run back down to the shed where they are keeping Bellamy, and they immediately see Murphy holding Emori down to the ground. Emori is behaving just like she did the last time she was exposed. So is Murphy, but that means nothing is happening to him.</p>
<p>	“It’s about time you got here,” he says. “I’m not fond of my girlfriend trying to kill me.”</p>
<p>	“Echo killed my disciple and gave me the anti-toxin.” Echo hands Murphy one, and he forces it onto Emori. She finally calms down. Murphy takes his as a precaution.</p>
<p>	“I’m sorry, John!”</p>
<p>	“Eh, I’m used to it by now,” he says, smiling.</p>
<p>	Emori smirks back at him. “Shut up.”</p>
<p>	Echo moves to unlock the shed and give Bellamy the anti-toxin, but Clarke holds her back. “No, we aren’t giving Bellamy any. Not yet.”</p>
<p>	“You want to let him suffer?” Echo never expected Clarke to be the one to say that. </p>
<p>“I don’t want to, but before you killed that disciple, he started saying things. He was questioning what he was doing and why he wasn’t back home. He asked how Cadogan could be more important than his family.”</p>
<p>	Murphy understands. “You want to try and get him back. Maybe the toxin will snap him out of it?”</p>
<p>	“Exactly.” Clarke looks Murphy in the eyes, remembering the words he said to her before they went to find Bellamy and the others. “The toxin amplifies our deepest wishes or beliefs, and I have to believe he wants to be his own person again. Now, I’m going to go give Cadogan his dose, but when I come back, we need to listen to him and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”</p>
<p>	Clarke leaves to go to the other shed. When she gets there, the other disciples are dead on the ground. It looks like they killed each other. Whatever the toxin made them see or made them behave, it was bad enough to kill for. She opens the door, prepared to be attacked by Cadogan. Instead, she finds him sitting cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed as if in meditation.</p>
<p>	“Here’s your anti-toxin. And if you didn’t know, your disciples outside are dead.”</p>
<p>	“Yes, I heard the shots.”</p>
<p>	“And you didn’t even look to see what happened? They are just pawns to you, aren’t they?”</p>
<p>	“They are serving the cause, and they lost their lives. Their deaths were honorable.”</p>
<p>	Clarke scoffs at the man. “Just take the dose. I don’t know why you aren’t as affected as everyone else, and I don’t care.” She leaves, locks the door behind her, and runs back to Bellamy. By the time she gets there, he has started screaming. Yelling at them that he is doing what is right. But something is off. There isn’t a lot of banging around. His voice doesn’t get louder or softer indicating he is pacing around the room. Clarke figures he is hallucinating more this time instead of getting physical.</p>
<p>	All they can do, though, is wait and listen.</p>
<h1>BELLAMY</h1>
<p>Bellamy’s vision is fuzzy around the edges. The colors shift and he understands the toxin is taking full affect. Next thing he knows he is in the cell with all his friends back on Bardo. They are all there, watching him as he tries to get them to join the Shepherd. “Please! Why can’t you see that I’m doing the right thing? I am saving all of you so we can transcend!”</p>
<p>	When no one says anything, the scene shifts again. Now he is back at Gabriel’s camp. Octavia had just been stabbed and turned into green mist. He remembers how he felt when the last blood family was gone. He was ready to do anything to get her back. </p>
<p>	Next, he is strapped to a chair and being injected with something. He remembers how his body went numb and his mind went blank. Cadogan is there with one other person, and Bellamy hears their whole plan. He is talking about how they are going to control Bardo and how it starts with Clarke Griffin. Bellamy didn’t do anything about it then, but now he will. “Don’t you dare touch Clarke!” he yells, but no one pays attention. </p>
<p>	“I swear if you hurt her, I will kill you and everyone on this planet!” They keep going without acknowledging him for even a second. The video plays on the screen before him, and he wonders how he could have let Cadogan brainwash him.  </p>
<p>	In the final shift he experiences, he is saving Clarke again. His hands are pounding down on her chest, refusing to give up on her. His lips meet hers, but not the way he has always imagined. He hears himself telling her how much he needs her, and he doesn’t regret any of it. If there was one thing he did regret after that night, it was this: After Clarke wakes up and she wraps her arms around him, he says to her with tears in his eyes, “I love you, Clarke.” She is surprised, but she says it back and they finally kiss like they have been waiting a hundred years to do.</p>
<p>When his vision goes black, and he feels himself fall to the floor, he is relieved.</p>
<h1>CLARKE, BELLAMY, ECHO, MURPHY, EMORI</h1>
<p>Outside, as they all listen to the shouting, tension fills the air. Murphy and Emori look to each other through the awkwardness. Clarke leans against a shoulder against the shed, concentrating very hard on the ground, and Echo is just silent. She always knew it, but it still doesn’t feel great to hear it out loud and in front of everyone. </p>
<p>	Suddenly Bellamy goes quiet, and they all hear a thud. Clarke frantically unlocks the door and they run inside. Echo gives him the anti-toxin, and they all watch as he comes out of it. Clarke silently prays that this wasn’t all for nothing. His eyes clear just as Clarke’s and Raven’s did, and he sits up on the ground. Bellamy leans back against the wall and looks at everyone.</p>
<p>	Nobody makes a move. Did it work? Is he back? Clarke needs him to do something, anything. They finally get their answer when Bellamy breaks down in front of them. Tears <br/>slide down his cheeks, but he doesn’t hide them. He looks at everyone in turn but leaves Clarke for last. </p>
<p>Their gazes lock, and Bellamy finally breaks the silence by saying, “I’m so sorry.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There may be a long wait again, unfortunately. I'm writing for BBB '21 and I'm not a person that does well writing two stories at a time. I will try my best, though, because I don't want this to stretch on forever. Thank you to everyone that's been reading! Your comments make my day :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Episode 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bellamy is back, and a new plan is hatched.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it's still full of action!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>BELLAMY, CLARKE, ECHO, MURPHY, EMORI </h1>
<p>“I’m so sorry,” Bellamy says, and for the first time since they found him, Clarke believes him. She rests her interlaced fingers on the top of her head and lets out a sigh of relief. His voice is broken, and it takes all her strength to not break down with him. Bellamy is back. </p>
<p>	Murphy doesn’t wait long before pulling his friend to his feet and into a tight embrace. Bellamy is hesitant for a second, but he eventually reciprocates. Clarke watches him closely, as if he will sink back into Disciple Blake the moment she takes her eyes off him. Bellamy feels the same, his eyes never leaving hers even as he greets everyone else in the room.</p>
<p>When the boys separate, Emori pulls him in next. “It’s good to have you back.” Again, his and Clarke’s eye contact never breaks. </p>
<p>Not until now, anyways. Bellamy wraps his arms around his girlfriend, but something seems off. Her hands go around to his back, but he barely feels it. He looks at her and leans in to brush his lips against hers, but she moves her head and kisses his cheek instead. </p>
<p>Lastly, Bellamy approaches Clarke. The shed is small, and in three big steps she is in his arms. Clarke feels the tension leave his body and his breath tickle her hair as he exhales. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get to feel like this again. </p>
<p>“I thought I lost you,” she whispers in his ear, refusing to let the tears burning behind her eyes fall. Clarke nuzzles into the crook of his neck, breathing him in.</p>
<p>“You will never lose me, Clarke. I’ll always come home.”  Bellamy’s hand rests at the nape of her neck, his fingertips just barely resting in her hair. They stay in that position longer than any of the other hugs lasted. </p>
<p>A tear falls down Echo’s cheek, and Emori takes her hand in comfort. “We need to come up with a plan,” Emori says to get Bellamy and Clarke’s attention. </p>
<p>The group forms a tight circle and speaks quietly. “Cadogan still wants the Flame, and I need to give it to him,” Clarke says. “We don’t know what he will do if we keep stalling.”</p>
<p>“I remembered things from getting brainwashed.” Bellamy shudders at the memory. “Cadogan said to someone else in the room about gaining control of Bardo. Transcendence isn’t real, and he only hypes himself up as a savior to stay in power.”</p>
<p>“We know,” Echo tells him. “We found the room in a big electrical closet and played the video. Gabriel figured out how the brainwashing worked and Cadogan’s hunger for power.”</p>
<p>“Then I think we all know what needs to happen next.” Bellamy looks them all in the eyes.</p>
<p>“We fake your death,” Murphy deadpans at the same time Bellamy says, “I go undercover with Cadogan.” </p>
<p>“Are you <em>insane?</em>” Clarke gasps angrily. “There is no way that’s happening!”</p>
<p>The others spit out agreements, even Echo who hasn’t been interested in anything so far. Bellamy didn’t expect them to like the idea, so he makes his case.  “I’m the only one left he trusts, and I have all the knowledge a disciple should have. More, even. The other disciples are dead, and we still have something he wants. I will be the real inside man now!”</p>
<p>Echo sighs and takes one step out the door. The siren is still blaring outside. “You should know I think this is a terrible idea. I’m going to find Hope and make sure she is alright.”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong with her? She’s acting different.” Awkward tension fills the room, and Bellamy feels like he is missing something big. </p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter right now, Bellamy. We are not letting you near Cadogan again!” Clarke starts pacing around the shed. </p>
<p>“I don’t see another way out of this, Clarke!”</p>
<p>Murphy tells him, “We could still tell him you’re dead. He clearly doesn’t care about the people that die while trying to get him what he wants.”</p>
<p>“He’s too smart for that. If I were dead, he would need proof. He knows how hard you would work to get me back.”</p>
<p>“What if I tell him you escaped and went back to Bardo to get more help? Then I give him the Flame, he leaves, and we try to destroy the stone,” Clarke suggests. </p>
<p>“It won’t work. I have never known how to use the stone, so it’s not believable that I suddenly figured it out. Besides, Clarke, can you tell me you’d honestly leave all those innocent people on Bardo to keep getting brainwashed and controlled?”</p>
<p>She grunts in frustration and runs her hand through hair as Emori says, “Hey, guys.” When they all look at her, she is staring through a small crack in the wall of the shed. “Cadogan just kicked the door of his shed open and is heading our way.” </p>
<p>At some point, they now realize, the toxin alarm went silent. When no one went to get him, he probably thought they were stalling. </p>
<p>“Ok we don’t have much time, maybe five minutes.” Clarke looks around the shed. There isn’t anything to use as a weapon or a door they can escape from without Cadogan seeing them. “Bellamy, get under the lowest shelf and get as close to the wall as you can. Murphy and Emori, you should go. He doesn’t think of you as a threat.”</p>
<p>“And what will you do?” Murphy asks her, concerned. </p>
<p>“I will think of something, just go!” The two of them reluctantly walk out, and Clarke starts running ideas through her head. She stops, though, when she finds Bellamy not moving, just staring at her. “What are you doing?”</p>
<p>“I have to go undercover, Clarke, and you know it.”</p>
<p>“No, you don’t!” She walks over to the self that runs along the left wall. “Please, just get under!”</p>
<p>“If we don’t take this chance, you will be at square one again.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care! Once they figure out you aren’t with them anymore, all it will take is another trip to that room and another dose of the drug. It’s not happening!”</p>
<p>“It’s exactly what you did when I got you back from Josephine!” Bellamy yells. Then his shoulders slump, and he steps in front of Clarke. He takes her face in her hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks that are wet with tears. “I didn’t understand how you could go back into that danger after we had worked so hard to get you out, but now I do. We have people to save.”</p>
<p>Clarke leans her face into his right hand and looks up at him. “You have no idea how much I admire you for that, Bellamy, but this is not the same thing. When you got her out of my head, she was dead. There was no chance of her hurting me again. Cadogan, though? He has the means to do this to you and everyone else over and over if he has to. I am <em>not</em> losing you again.”</p>
<p>“You won’t lose me.”</p>
<p>“You don’t know that, and I can’t take that risk. I won’t. I already lost my mom. I have Madi, but I don’t know if I could survive without you by my side.”<br/>Bellamy doesn’t say anything, he just gently presses his forehead against Clarke’s. She feels every point of contact, and the heat spreads all the way down to her toes. They shouldn’t be doing this, Cadogan will be here any second, but that doesn’t make her pull away. What does, though, is what she heard him say while he was under the influence of the toxin, and he hasn’t had the chance to talk to Echo about it. Clarke isn’t even sure Bellamy knows he said it out loud for them all to hear.</p>
<p>	She steps back from him to beg one more time for him to hide, but the door opens, and Cadogan walks inside. Clarke is suddenly spun around with her arms twisted behind her back. “My Shepherd, she was behind the toxin. It was real, but she controlled it. Now she is out of tricks and is going to take you to the Key whether she likes it or not.”</p>
<p>	“Good to hear. All my men except you are dead, so she is your responsibility now.” Cadogan hands Bellamy a gun from one of the dead disciples and extends his arm towards the door. “Clarke, lead the way.”</p>
<h1>MURPHY, EMORI</h1>
<p>Murphy and Emori leave the shed silently and with joined hands. Both are worried about Clarke and Bellamy. They know what will end up happening, and it won’t be Bellamy hiding under a shelf. As they make their way to the palace, Murphy says, “So, that was a little awkward for a while, huh?”</p>
<p>“A little? I think that’s an understatement,” Emori chuckles. “I do feel bad for Echo, though, hearing her boyfriend loves someone else.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t mean to be inconsiderate, I really don’t, but was anyone surprised?”</p>
<p>	“Probably not, but I imagine it was still hard.” Emori takes her hand out of his and wraps an arm around his waist. “Promise I’m the only one?”</p>
<p>	“Emori, you’ve been the only one for over a century.” He kisses her temple, and they reach the palace steps. The streets of Sanctum aren’t crowded. Wonkru and Eligius must be sticking with Indra and Nikki. Murphy’s glad for it. He’s getting tired of leading these people. How did Clarke do it all those years?</p>
<p>When Murphy and Emori get to the dining room, they find Doucette still tied up but sweaty and oddly calm. </p>
<p>Murphy takes one of the chairs from beside Doucette and turns it around, sitting on it backwards. He rests his elbows on the back of the chair and sighs. “Look, just make this easy and we won’t have to keep you here.” He isn’t quite sure what else to do with him, but whatever gets the information he wants.</p>
<p>	“I’m willing to do whatever to get home.”</p>
<p>	“Alright, why are you here?”</p>
<p>	“I was part of the mission to bring Clarke Griffin to Bardo. Your friends killed mine, thinking they were the only ones, but when I heard the shots, I hid in the tent. When they left, I came here.”</p>
<p>	“Why did you come here, though?” Emori asks, standing behind Murphy with a hand on his shoulder. “What does Sanctum have to do with you?”</p>
<p>	“When your friends went to Bardo, I came here to see what this place was like. My new plan was to spread the word of the Shepherd and then report back to him with a new planet of faithful.”</p>
<p>	“You say that <em>was</em> your plan. What’s changed?”</p>
<p>Doucette looks straight into Murphy’s eyes to answer him. “What’s changed? I have.”</p>
<p>	“Why would we believe you?”</p>
<p>	“Whatever just happened to me while I was tied here, whatever was in the air, cleared my head. I remember figuring out what the Shepherd was doing back on Bardo and asking questions. He never gave me a straight answer, so I started digging. Once I got close to figuring out transcendence isn’t real and that he is using the idea to keep us like his sheep, he dragged me to a hidden room. After that, I remember walking out and following every single order I was given with no more questions asked. That will not happen to me again.”</p>
<p>	“You were brainwashed by Cadogan. He injected you with a drug to make you very open to suggestion,” Emori explains. “He played you a video telling you what to believe, so you did.”</p>
<p>	“Has he done that to everyone?” Doucette asks.</p>
<p>	“We were told that’s what he did in the beginning to create the disciples. Those who didn’t believe in him and his power were made to. Then, as time went on, children were taught those ways, but monitored. People, like you, who started questioning his motives had to be… rebooted so to say.”</p>
<p>	“My entire life has been a lie. How could he do that to his people?”</p>
<p>	“I’m not sure, but we do need to know something else. Now that you are aware of what’s happening, what are you going to do?”</p>
<p>	Doucette looks at Emori with a determined look. “I am going to help you stop him. He can’t keep doing this.”</p>
<p>	“That’s good to hear, but I don’t have the moral compass my friends do,” Murphy says as if he’s bored. “If it even looks like you are about to double cross us, I will kill you. Until then, tell us everything you know of Cadogan, his disciples, and any ways we can take him down.”</p>
<p>	“Let’s get started.”</p>
<h1>OCTAVIA, HOPE, DIYOZA, ECHO</h1>
<p>Octavia isn’t surprised by the demand for answers from the people in the tunnels. They approach Indra and an Eligius member named Nikki mostly. From what Indra briefly mentioned, they created a sort of government with representatives similar to the Coalition. The Sanctumites haven’t been concerned, mostly confused at why there is toxin in the air with no eclipse. </p>
<p>	The tunnels are large, but well lit and easy to get around in. There is the main tunnel where they entered, but smaller ones branch off in different directions. On each wall of every tunnel are alcoves, and it looks like they are for families to claim and wait out the eclipses. Octavia wonders if each family always goes to the same one or if they just take one. Nikki keeps her people at one end of the main tunnel and Indra with Wonkru is at the other, but it’s been made clear Octavia isn’t welcome with them quite yet. </p>
<p>	“We should be planning our next move,” Hope says as she, Diyoza, and Octavia find an alcove of their own. They sit along the curved wall, able to see each other without trouble. Diyoza is in the middle with Octavia on her left and Hope on her right. “How are we going to get the information we need from Cadogan when we question him, and what are we going to do with it?”</p>
<p>	“Relax.” Diyoza leans her head back against the wall and closes her eyes. “All we can do is wait for now.”</p>
<p>	“We need a plan of attack!”</p>
<p>	“Stop. Even if we did make a plan right here, right now, you won’t be involved.” She doesn’t raise her voice to Hope, just states it like a fact she is reading from a textbook. </p>
<p>	“No way. Auntie O, tell her I can fight!”</p>
<p>	Octavia holds her hands up by her face and chuckles. “I learned years ago not to disagree with your mother.”</p>
<p>	“I don’t understand,” Hope groans. “But, seeing that I am a grown ass adult, I guess you can’t stop me.”</p>
<p>	“You will not fight!” Diyoza shouts suddenly, shocking the other girls. When she calms down, she says, “I am not losing my daughter to war. You were supposed to be raised knowing peace, not violence. We will help where we can, but you are not putting yourself into harm’s way.”</p>
<p>“Fine, I won’t get myself in danger if I don’t have to, but I won’t stand back if someone I love  needs help.”</p>
<p>	Diyoza takes her daughter’s hand. “No, I suppose you won’t.”</p>
<p>	“I love you, Mom.”</p>
<p>	“I love you too, little one.” The three of them sit and catch up on the years they missed with each other. Diyoza tells them about her climbing the disciple’s ranks, and Hope recalls life on Skyring with Echo, Gabriel, and Orlando. She talks mostly about Echo, though. Her favorite story is how they both got their short hair, but a close second was having to watch Echo try to farm but completely failing at it in the beginning. A look passes between Octavia and Diyoza while Hope goes on and on, but they stay quiet.<br/>Octavia doesn’t have much to say since nothing story-worthy happened to her after they got separated. Well, she would like to tell them about Levitt, but she is worried the moment she lets herself be happy it will be ripped away, so she keeps it in for now.</p>
<p>	They aren’t sure how long they were in the tunnels before the alarm goes silent. Without need for instruction, the Sanctumites lead the way back to the city. The other groups follow, Nikki and Indra in front. </p>
<p>	“Now, in all seriousness, Diyoza,” Octavia says quietly as they resurface at the edge of the city. “What are we going to do when we get back?”</p>
<p>	“To start, we are going to tie Cadogan down so there is no chance of him getting away. Then we figure out what his endgame is.”</p>
<p>	“And we expect him to just tell us?”</p>
<p>	“No, of course not. We will have to get creative. It would be nice to have one of my shock collars right now.”</p>
<p>	Hope steps in front of Diyoza and Octavia and raises a brow. “Shock collars? And I’m the violent one?”</p>
<p>	“Give me a break. I was keeping nearly three hundred deadly criminals in line, I had to do something.” Diyoza smirks and walks past Hope, taking the lead. </p>
<p>	Octavia puts her arm around Hope and tells her, “I’m so glad we are all together. Nothing will ever separate us again.” <br/>Hope opens her mouth to agree, but someone coming towards them catches her attention instead. “Echo!” She runs towards her friends and into her arms. Diyoza and Octavia follow, and the girls are still hugging each other by the time they get there. “I’m glad you’re okay.”</p>
<p>“Same here, Hope.” Echo looks as relieved as she sounds. They all know this plan didn’t put any of them in harm’s way, but plans don’t always work out the way they are expected. Sometimes that’s even more dangerous. They pull away from each other and face Octavia and Diyoza. </p>
<p>“Well,” Diyoza says. “Where did you guys put him?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, about that,” Echo starts, but Octavia gets distracted by three people leaving a small shed across the city. When she notices the gun in Bellamy’s hand pointed at Clarke’s head, she starts running. They have to save Clarke, and Bellamy isn’t capable of doing it himself.</p>
<p>“Octavia, stop!” Echo shouts and chases after her. “Let me explain!”</p>
<p>Octavia stops and turns towards Echo. “Explain what? Cadogan is supposed to be tied down so we can question him. Why isn’t he?”</p>
<p>Hope and Diyoza catch up, and Diyoza asks, “What is going on?”</p>
<p>“Clarke changed the plan. She said that while Cadogan has all his people brainwashed, they won’t stop until Cadogan is back, and they will come here to save him if they have to. Basically, we don’t know what the Bardoans will do while they worship the ground Cadogan walks on.”</p>
<p>“So, if she changed our plan last minute, she has to have a new one, right?” Octavia watches as the three of them get farther away. </p>
<p>“Yes. She is going to give him the Flame and stall while we can come up with a way to stop him for good.” </p>
<p>“We don’t even know if that’s possible!” Octavia pinches the bridge of her nose. “Bellamy will do anything to get Cadogan what he wants. He could be instructed to kill us all to get us out of his way, and he would do it!”</p>
<p>“No, he won’t,” Echo says. </p>
<p>“You’ve seen him, Echo. He’s not the same person he used to be.”</p>
<p>“Actually, he is. Part of Clarke’s plan got Bellamy back to his right mind. He is his own person again.”</p>
<p>“Wait, really?” Octavia doesn’t hold back the smile and a sigh of relief. “Bellamy is back? How?”</p>
<p>“The toxin snapped him out of it,” Echo explains. “Clarke thought of it after the disciple she was being escorted by to get the anti-toxin started acting weird while being affected. He came out of whatever Cadogan did to him, so she said that it might work on Bellamy. We didn’t give him the anti-toxin at first, but when we did, he was back.”</p>
<p>Octavia is still confused, though. “Then why is he holding a weapon to the back of Clarke’s head?”</p>
<p>“Because he had the grand idea to go back undercover with Cadogan as the inside man.”</p>
<p>“He can’t be that stupid,” Diyoza says bluntly.</p>
<p>“Clarke went along with that?” asks Octavia.</p>
<p>“No. No one wanted him to do it, but they must have run out of time to come up with something else because that’s what’s happening.”</p>
<p>“So what do we do now?” Hope looks around the group for an answer. “I think we should follow them so we know what’s happening.”</p>
<p>“Clarke buried the Flame under a tree in the open backyard of the farmhouse. Even if we follow them, we couldn’t get close enough to hear anything,” Echo says. </p>
<p>“We don’t need to hear. We just need to know when it’s safe to go back to Bardo for backup. But we have to go now.” Octavia doesn’t wait for responses. She takes off and leads the way to the large house on the edge of the city. A few minutes later they are looking through a window of the house, watching silently as Bellamy, Clarke, and Cadogan approach the Flame.</p>
<h1>RAVEN , GABRIEL</h1>
<p>Raven enters the control room and finds Gabriel sitting back watching the cameras of Sanctum. One screen shows the percentage of toxin left in the air. It’s 95% and decreasing quickly, the siren still blaring outside. “I see you got the easy part of the plan.”</p>
<p>	“Raven,” Gabriel acknowledges. “Releasing a heavily mind-altering toxin ten feet away from me and making sure my people are all safe is easy to you?”</p>
<p>	She smirks at him. “Seems easier than the other’s parts.”</p>
<p>	“Even that the ones that are in the tunnels waiting it all out?”</p>
<p>	“Touché, I’ll give you that. Is there anything I can do to help?” Raven sits down in a chair next to him and glances at the screens. The toxin is already down to 80%.</p>
<p>	“Keep an eye on the cameras. If there is someone that didn’t get to the tunnels in time, I will run and give them the anti-toxin.”</p>
<p>	Raven watches carefully, for about five minutes anyways. There aren’t that many cameras to watch, so she figures Gabriel can handle it. She moves to an open computer and rummages through the files. There are profiles on the Primes, a list of who in Sanctum has nightblood, and reports on everything related to the Children of Gabriel. With all the Primes gone though, she doesn’t see how any of this is relevant anymore. </p>
<p>	Raven goes through every single piece of information she can on that computer, and nothing comes up that could be of any use. She wasn’t searching for anything specific, but a document called “How to Stop a Brainwashing Dictator” would have been nice to find. By the time she is done, the toxin is down to a level that doesn’t affect the brain. </p>
<p>	“Finally, we can turn this alarm off,” Gabriel says. </p>
<p>	“I suppose an old man like yourself would get annoyed by a sound we can barely hear inside this room.”</p>
<p>	“You realize we are both over a hundred years old, right?”</p>
<p>	“Yeah, but only <em>you</em> are over two hundred.” Raven stands up and leans over Gabriel’s shoulder and watches as everyone returns from the tunnels. “See anything interesting yet?”</p>
<p>One camera catches Echo, Hope, Diyoza, and Octavia talking in a huddle. Gabriel points it out. “At least they are okay.”</p>
<p>	“What about the others? Murphy, Emori, Bellamy, and Clarke?”</p>
<p>	“Where did you take Bellamy before you came here?”</p>
<p>	“A shed just outside of town.” Raven points at one of the cameras that has the shed right on it’s edge. Murphy and Emori aren’t there anymore, it looks like they are coming to the palace. Suddenly, Cadogan is in the frame and barges into the shed. </p>
<p>	“Wait, what’s going on?” Gabriel asks, confused. Seconds later, Clarke comes out of the building followed by Bellamy and Cadogan. Bellamy has a gun aimed at Clarke’s head. </p>
<p>	Raven covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh no…” </p>
<p>	“It didn’t work.”</p>
<p>	“What didn’t work?”</p>
<p>	Gabriel explains the plan he, Echo, Octavia, Hope, and Diyoza came up with. “He was supposed to be tied up so we could question him, but something must have gone wrong.”</p>
<p>	“It looks like she is taking them to the Flame. Are there any cameras around the farmhouse?” </p>
<p>	“No, but I have a better plan.” Gabriel taps a few buttons, and a new camera feed pops up on the screen. “It’s a drone. It also has audio so we can hear everything they say.”</p>
<p>	“Won’t they hear a drone buzzing above their heads?”</p>
<p>	“No, it’s completely silent. How do you think Russell and the other Primes knew everything about everyone?”</p>
<p>	“That doesn’t surprise me at all. Well, follow them.” Raven watches the screen as Gabriel maneuvers the drone and stops above Clarke, Bellamy, and Cadogan. She can’t believe it’s gotten so bad that Bellamy has a weapon pointed at Clarke’s head. In his current state, if Cadogan were to give a kill order, Bellamy wouldn’t hesitate.</p>
<p>	Gabriel hovers the machine over them as they stand under a tree and Clarke starts digging.</p>
<h1>BELLAMY, CLARKE </h1>
<p>If it wasn’t for the moment they were having just before Cadogan came in the shed, she would think Bellamy is still on the wrong side. He keeps his gun inches from her head, close enough to not miss, but far enough away she can’t deflect it and gain control.</p>
<p>It’s a silent walk to the tree she buried the Flame under. Clarke doesn’t want to risk saying anything that could give away Bellamy’s allegiance, and it seems Cadogan has had enough talking. He is ready to get what he wants. </p>
<p>Cadogan stands back as Clarke kneels down by the still fresh mound of dirt. Bellamy is between her and Cadogan, the gun still aimed at her. She tries to come up with something, anything, that could keep the Flame underground longer. “This thing is dead, Cadogan, I don’t know what you think you will find on it.”</p>
<p>“It was dead to you and your inferior technology. Hurry up,” he commands impatiently. </p>
<p>Clarke rakes her fingers into the ground, staining her fingers a deep brown. About five inches down, she feels the box holding the mangled remains of the Flame. She slowly brings it out and brushes it off. “What exactly do you want from this?”</p>
<p>“It’s the key to transcendence, I’ve told you this. Toss it to me.”</p>
<p>Clarke does as she is told, and Cadogan catches it with ease. “That’s a load of bullshit,” she tells him. “You may have all your people believing in that, but I will never be one of them.”</p>
<p>“It’s unfortunate you don’t believe, Clarke, it really is.” She thought maybe he’d falter or reveal something she doesn’t know, but he is an excellent liar. “Disciple Blake, I have another job for you.”</p>
<p>“Anything for you, my Shepherd.” These words, words he has spoken over and over lately, now make bile rise in his throat. </p>
<p>“Kill her.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Halfway through! Hopefully you are enjoying it so far! Any comments, suggestions, and feedback is gladly appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one is very similar to the first episode, only a couple changes. If there are any comments or suggestions, I would gladly take them into consideration! Episode (chapter) 2 is where most of it starts diverging from canon. Also, if anyone could give me tips on tagging, that would be wonderful, lol. It's my weakness. Hope you enjoyed, and there is plenty to come!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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